


Lab Partners

by superwhofilesjackson



Category: Supernatural
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Charlie Bradbury & Dean Winchester Friendship, Comfort/Angst, Destiel - Freeform, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay Castiel, Gen, High School Castiel/Dean Winchester, Impala 67, Kissing, M/M, Nerd Castiel, Openly Bisexual Dean, Student!Cas, Student!Dean, Texting, castiel novak - Freeform, new (ish) student dean, will keep adding as I go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-11
Updated: 2017-04-30
Packaged: 2018-06-07 19:09:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 28,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6820567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superwhofilesjackson/pseuds/superwhofilesjackson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Castiel woke up that morning, excited to go to school, he never expected to meet Dean Winchester, the cocky yet charming boy who seemed to capture Cas' heart the moment he laid eyes on him.<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural. That honor goes to Eric Kripke and other writers

 

It was the first day of his junior year at his high school. Castiel thought it would never come. Oh how long he had been waiting for this day. When he could finally find a reason to stay away from home, from his brother and sister.

  
It was lunch break. Cas was eating his lunch all by himself on a table in the corner of the cafeteria. He had given up on reading while eating the moment he had tried it. It was pointless. There was too much noise, and every jock and bully who would pass him would snicker or make a rude comment. So Cas just sat there, thinking about his day. He had had Economics, Chemistry, and History so far. After the break, he had Biology. They were supposed to go the lab. Apparently being in 11th grade meant more practicals than theory. Biology wasn't one of his favorite subjects. It was far from it to be honest. He got straight As in any other subjects, but not this stupid subject. The only reason he had not flunked last year- and the year before that- was that he was good at remembering stuff, and that's was it was about for the past two years anyways. He didn't see how he would be able to pass this time. Cas sighed. Who knew, maybe this year would be different.

  
Cas got up as a loud group of people passed his table. He noticed that they were all laughing at something the green eyed guy had said. As he was walking away, he felt eyes following him. He shrugged the feeling off. _You are just being paranoid_. He scolded himself, resisting the urge to look back, and kept walking.

* * *

  
  
Cas was one of the first ones to arrive in the lab. He chose a seat by the window and sat down. Slowly, more students arrived and the room was quickly filled with loud chatter and laughter. The seat next to Cas remained empty. Cas sighed softly. Maybe this year he would actually be able to concentrate in the class for a change. The teacher, a short but well built, black haired man, came in the lab. He cleared his throat loudly. The room turned silent except for few rebellious whispers.

  
“I am-” He started, but he was interrupted by the opening of the door. A tall, green eyed guy- and Cas could tell that they were green even from so far away was because they were bright like emeralds shining under the sun- wearing a leather jacket stood there grinning. Cas realized that he was that he was the same guy he had seen in the cafeteria.

  
"Sorry I'm late." He said, but he didn't look one bit sorry. He was still grinning, scanning the room for empty seats. Cas too looked around, but saw that there was only one empty seat in the entire lab. The one besides him. Cas groaned. He knew this guy's type all too well. He would make pointless comments during the entire class and endlessly distract him. Maybe if he didn't like Cas, he would even bully him. Cas wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't above that. There was no way in hell he'd let him pay attention in the class.  
"And you are…?" The teacher who was unnamed himself, asked.  
"Dean Winchester." He said grinning, slightly moving his head up, having a look on his face like he had just said he was Tom Cruise.  
"Take a seat Mr. Winchester." He seemed to have noticed this too, and look like he was mentally preparing himself for a really hard time from Dean. "As I was saying, I am Paul Greenwood. I am going to be you biology teacher this year."

  
Dean walked towards Cas' table. Maybe it was Cas' imagination but there seemed to be a mischievous gleam in his eyes. _Great_  Cas thought, rolling his eyes in his head. _He has already planned all the ways he is going to torment me._  Dean threw his bag on the floor and sat down besides Cas with a plop.

  
"You will be having the same seats for the whole year so make sure you don't get on the wrong foot with your partner." Mr. Greenwood continued. Eventhough Cas knew this, he groaned internally.  
Cas was shaken from his thoughts by a different voice. "Dean." Dean was looking at him, his grin intact, although the mischievous gleam was replaced by something else. Was that curiosity?   
"Oh, um… I'm Castiel. Cas." Cas didn't know why he stuttered, except that it seemed to happen every time he spoke with someone he didn't know or wasn't comfortable with.   
If it was possible, Dean's grin grew even wider. Mr. Greenwood cleared his throat. He was staring pointedly at Cas and Dean.

  
"If you would please Mr. Winchester. It might not be very important to you, but I am trying to teach something." Dean didn't say anything, so Cas coughed out a sorry.

  
For the next 15 minutes or so, Cas tried to concentrate in the class. Mr. Greenwood had given all of them tasks to observe a plant cell under the microscope after explaining what kind of stuctures they were supposed to be seeing. Cas memorized every word he said, confident that he would be able to see the cells. There was only one microscope on each table so they had to share.  
Cas went first, but all he could see was hazy milky white shapes. When he asked Mr. Greenwood about it, he said that that was the result of maladjustment. So Cas tried adjusting the microscope, but it didn't seem to help.

  
"Here, let me." Dean said from beside him as he softly pushed Cas aside with his hip and took the microscope in his hands. He started adjusting the microscope.  
"You know I saw you earlier today." Dean said while still looking in the microscope.  
"Oh?" Was all Cas could think of to say.  
"Yeah. In the cafeteria. You were eating your lunch by yourself."  
Cas felt his cheeks burn up. "Um.. yeah-"  
"You could join my friends and I if you want." Dean interrupted him. Cas had not expected this. After all he had _just_ met the guy. He didn't even know him. And he had a feeling that he won't like Dean's friends very much. Hell he wasn't even sure he liked Dean all that much. They had barely exchanged two words, after all.  
"I don't know…" Cas started to say but apparently Dean didnt hear him, or maybe he just chose to ignore him, because he stepped aside and said,"Here you go. All set and ready for your highness to use." He held his arms towards the microscope, as though showing it off, bowing his head slightly  
Cas blushed again. "Uh thanks."  
"You are not very good at this are you?"  
"Good at what?" Cas said quickly, putting his eye to the eye piece.  
"This. Biology." Dean said waving his hand at the microscope.  
"No. It's not one of my best subjects." Cas could now see the plant cell clearly. "You on the other hand seem pretty good at this." He took a good look at the cell and started taking notes.  
Dean shrugged. "I try." Cas noticed that Dean wasn't taking any notes at all.  
"Shouldn't you be taking notes?" Cas asked him. Dean shrugged again, but didn't say anything.

  
After few minutes of silence, Dean look over Cas' shoulder to look at his notes. He grinned. Cas frowned. "What?" He asked.  
"Nothing. It's just, you are very neat and organized."  
Cas felt his face burn up again. "So what being neat is a crime now?"  
Dean held up his hands in mock surrender. "I never said it was." He was still grinning.  
Cas rolled his eyes. _Asshole_ , he thought.  
As Dean lowered his hands, one of them brushed against Cas' shoulder. Cas didn't understand why his face was burning up. The tingling sensation he felt in his stomach when Dean touched him was unfamiliar to him. Dean seemed unaffected. Cas tried to ignore the feeling and continued to do his work.

  
Dean and Cas worked together for the rest of the period, and when the bell finally rang, it seemed too soon to Cas. For the first time in his life, Cas wished that the period would have gone on longer.

  
As Cas was packing his bag, already thinking about the next biology period, Dean stood up, his bag already on his shoulders, and said, " I'll see you tomorrow at the cafeteria." Cas tried to hide his surprise, and nodded casually. But as soon as Dean turned his back to him, Cas was smiling brighter than the sun.


	2. Chapter 2

 

The rest of the day was a blur to Cas. He didn't remember the jeering of the bullies, or the scolding of the teachers when he failed to answer them correctly. All he could think of were those twinkling green eyes staring at him. He tried not to think of them, or of Dean, or feel overly excited about nothing, but he couldn't help it.

Cas' family could not understand what was wrong with him. He was very cheery that day, which annoyed the hell out of his older brother and sister, Gabriel and Anna. Gabriel and Anna were twins but they looked nothing like each other, and when they were not at home, they tried their best to pretend that they didn't even know each other. They hated each other, but not as much as they hated Cas. Despite their feelings for each other, they always got together to achieve one goal: To make Cas' life a living hell.

Cas was always the smart sibling, which was why he was also mom and dad's favorite. Cas got the best grades in every subject excluding biology (his siblings liked to hold it over his head a lot). Gabe and Anna did pretty well for themselves, but they weren't as good as Cas, which was why they hated Cas with all their stone cold heart.To add cherry on top of that, Cas always did what his parents told him to do, he was well mannered, he didn't get in fights, and he was very mature. Basically he was the ideal son all parents wanted.

Competitiveness ran in the family, and it did not help when Cas got the biggest piece of chocolate, or the best part of the melon. Gabe and Anna justified their actions towards Cas buy saying that they were preventing Cas from turning into a spoiled brat. Their mom and dad did not interfere (they didn't know all the stuff they did to him, but they did know some) saying that they wanted each of them to be independent and to stand up for themselves.

But Cas always thought that he would never be able to stand up for himself because his sibling wouldn't let him. Any time that they would play a prank on him, or "accidentally" hit him, or make him do all their work, he would grumble that they were mentally scarring him for life, at which they would snicker and bully him more. He blamed then for his inability to speak freely whatever and whenever he wanted.

This year was supposed to be special for Cas because Gabe and Anna were going off to college. He wouldn't have to see their ugly faces in the school anymore. _And look how special it was_  Cas thought happily as bright green color flashed before his eyes, but then quickly added to himself, _because they weren't there at school… obviously._

Cas couldn't explain his happiness himself. Why exaclty _was_ he happy? It wasnt like his biggest crush had kissed him or something. Gabe and Anna took it to mean that he had had an exceptionally good day at school, so they made sure that he had a really bad time at home.

"The world should remained balanced, as should life." Gabriel said with an evil grin, as he made Cas clean up the remains of the food he had eaten in bed the previous night. _Funny how keeping the world balanced doesn't seem to bother you if I had a bad day at school,_  Cas thought to himself as he picked up candy wrappers from the floor. But even that didn't lower Cas' spirits.

Later that evening Cas finished his homework. It took him unusually long to finish his biology homework. For some reason he couldn't concentrate. He looked at the clock. It was barely 7 pm. He still had another hour to himself before dinner. Gabe and Anna, whose college didn't start for another week, were watching television. Cas could hear their bickering, as well as loud noises from the tv, from his room.

Cas thought of reading a book, but the tv was too loud, and anyways, he didn't feel like reading, which was very unusual for him since he loved reading. Cas just sat there on his study table, going over the events of the day in his head.

At one point he eyed his laptop. _No_  A voice told him furiously. _What does it matter. You are just curious,_  another voice said just as insistently. Y _ou don't stalk people, Cas_  The first voice said. _You are not stalking. You are just curiou_ s.

"Yeah." Cas said to himself. He turned on his laptop. “Not stalking, just curious. That's all.” He opened facebook, and typed in "Dean Winchester" in the search box. There were a lot of Dean Winchesters in the world. Ah there he was.

Dean Winchester, Illinois, his picture grinning at Cas. Cas hesitated for a moment, but then said to himself that he was just curious, and clicked. It looked like Dean had only recently joined facebook, because there wasn't much on his time line, the oldest one being posted only a few months back. Apparently, Dean Winchester was interested in rock songs, vintage cars, Star Wars, and some other stuff. His birth date was stated as January 24. If they were born on the same year, Dean would be only a few months older than Cas.

There was only one picture of his own, which was the one he had kept as his profile picture. His background was of a sleek, black car. His relationship status was single (Cas did not know why he looked at it or why it made him overcome with relief). He saw that Dean's hometown was not Pontiac. He was from Kansas. It made Cas wonder how long it had been since he moved here. He looked around in his room to make sure there wasn't an unknown intruder there, and quickly saved Dean's picture. Once he had read every detail twice, Cas opened instagram on his phone.

 _Just curious_  He reminded himself before he would change his mind, and typed in Dean Winchester again. The same photo of Dean which was on Facebook stared at him. He opened his account, praying that it wasn't private. It wasn't! But Cas' face fell because the only post was a picture of the black car, only, with a different angle.

Cas scowled and cursed to himself. _It doesn't matter anyways. You were just curious right?_  But nonetheless he wasnt in the same mood he had been an hour ago. Cas sighed and closed the facebook page. After a second thought, he cleared all the history too. He stared at the screen, thinking what to do next. It was 7:30. Still half and hour left until dinner. Cas thought of checking other social medias, but decided that that would be going too far. He could still hear the tv from outside.

Finally, Cas took out his earphones and listened to music. Cas had been laying down on his bed with his eyes closed, so when he felt a hand roughly shake his shoulders, he jumped and an involuntary yelp escaped his mouth.

Anna stood over him, laughing. Irritated, Cas pulled out his earphones and snapped at her, "What!?"

"You scream like a girl." Anna said in between laughter.

"No I don't." Cas scowled.

"Well at least it's good to see you back to normal." Anna was still laughing. Cas' scowl grew deeper. Just like his sister to ruin his mood and then laugh about it.

"What do you want?" Cas asked, sulking.

"Oh right. Mom is calling you for dinner." With that, she walked out of the room slamming the door shut, leaving Cas there scowling at the closed door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pls tell me what you thought of the story so far :) Also, if you have a good title in mind, do tell me :)


	3. Chapter 3

 

 

 

Cas woke up early the next day. There was just a hint of sun in the sky. It was cool morning, and Cas could smell the sweet scent of the approaching season of rain. Despite this, Cas was sweating, feeling very hot in the chest. He had had a very unsettling dream. One involving tall lanky guys with green eyes. Butterflies flapped their wings against the inside of his stomach as Cas remembered the dream. _Those lips_  Cas thought dreamily. _Those sweet soft…_ Cas suddenly shuddered, trying his hardest not to think about his dream. He shook his head firmly. It was just a dream. It didn't mean anything, and he was just going to forget all about it.

But it was easier said than done as once again, an image of those pink lips crept up in his head. This time, he had an odd sensation against his hips, almost as though someone was touching them. Cas shut his eyes close, trying to think of anything about soft, but firm hands touching his body, kissing him…

Cas' eyes flew open. This wasn't helping. He stood up, knowing that there was no point in trying to go back to sleep now. He stripped his clothes and went into the shower. He took his time there since he still had about 2 hours before school. 30 minutes later he still didn't feel clean after that dirty dream. He made a face while dressing up. What bothered him most was that he actually liked the dream. He _wanted_ to think about it. He _wanted_ to fantasize. He _wanted_ to feel Dean's hands on his body…

About an hour later, he heard his mother call Cas for breakfast. As Cas went downstairs, he saw that his father was reading the newspaper, as usual, and his mother was making pancakes. Gabe and Anna were still sleeping. He said 'good morning' and sat down on his seat.

"How did you sleep?" His father asked him without looking up from his paper. It was like a routine in the Novak family. Every morning during breakfast, dad would ask them how they slept and they would reply that they slept well, not expanding on that, although occasionally Cas felt the urge to reply the he slept with his eyes closed, but he always refrained, knowing that his father didn't take well on sarcasm.

"I slept well." Cas replied.He tried to keep his mind on his breakfast, which his mother had just slided across to him. His father peeked an eye at him from behind his paper, raising an eye brow questioningly. Maybe he had detected something different in Cas' tone. Cas was actually quite surprised that his father knew him well enough to notice that, and cared enough to avert his eyes from his precious newspaper. Cas shrugged, not looking at him in the eye. His father stared at him for a second, and then turned his attention towards his newspaper, already having forgotten Cas.

* * *

Cas had eaten his breakfast and was out of the house before someone would ask him any more questions. He thought of the upcoming day. He knew full well that he would have to see Dean that day, and his brain was screaming _No don't do it, you don't have to meet him in the cafeteria, and you don't have a biology period today_ but there was a small voice deep down who was whispering all the things he could do, he _wanted_ to do with Dean.

* * *

Cas passed Ivan in a corridor after the first period. Ivan and Cas had been good friends in middle school, and remained such during their freshmen year. But they grew apart over the year. Ivan started hanging out with other people, and Cas didn't really know them, or like them if he was completely honest with himself, to care to become friends with them. During the sophomore year, all their friendship was left to was "hi" "hello" whenever they bumped into each other. This time, Ivan didn't even look at him as they passed each other. A feeling of loneliness and self pity came over Cas as he thought about that. As much as he told himself that he didn't need any friends, in the end that was the one thing he really wanted. But Cas was such a loner that he doubted anyone would want to be friends with him.  _Dean_  A soft voice whispered to him. _Dean had wanted to be friends with you._ The voice wasn't exactly wrong.

A guy bumped into Cas as he ran past him in the other direction. Freshman, from his looks. He muttered a quick apology to Cas and kept running. At about the same time the bell rang. Cas sighed, quickly getting his books from his locker. How was he going to survive this year.

* * *

It seemed to take forever for the remaining two classes before lunch break to get over. He couldn't concentrate in any of his classes, and he seemed to be having a far away look on his face. Apparently, his Chem teacher had said his name four times already before Cas answered her. She was not very happy about that, and gave extra homework to him, threatening him with detention if it happened again.

When the bell rang to announce the lunch break, Cas was with few of those people who rushed out of the class. He didn't think he could handle trying to take in one more equation in his head. In the few hours he had got to think, he had made up his mind about Dean. He was now convinced that it was just his mind playing tricks on him and that the only reason it was Dean's face in his dream was because he had been thinking about him before he fell asleep that night. But he also didn't want to take any chances by actually eating with him and his friends and maybe even becoming his friend. So Cas was just going to take his usual seat by the corner table where no one wanted to sit.

It was when he was getting his food when Cas felt a hand on his shoulder. Cas jumped slightly, surprised. He cautiously followed the hand to the grinning face of one Dean Winchester. Before he could stop it, an image of Dean's hands on his body flashed before his eyes (again!) and Cas felt his face go red.

"Oh… hi." He stuttered.  
"Hi!" Dean's grin grew wider (that seemed to happen a lot whenever Cas spoke something, for some reason). "I saw you getting your lunch, and I just wanted to let you know that me and a couple of my friends are by that table." He pointed a table where two guys sat talking to each other.

Cas quickly nodded a yes. With another grin, Dean took his hand off Cas' shoulder and ran to his table. It was only when Cas let out a deep breath did he realize that he was holding it in. _Why did you say yes!?_ He scolded himself. But the damage was already done and he couldn't say no now ( _Yeah you keep telling yourself that_ ). Cas sighed. He didn't have any other choice. Right?

He shrugged. Might as well sit down with Dean. Cas grabbed his tray, which had just been pushed towards his, and headed towards Dean's table. Dean's back was facing Cas so he didn't see him coming, but one of his friends, a guy Cas had seen around in the hallways a couple of time, said "You must be Castiel." He wore a cheeky grin on his face.

Dean turned around to look at him, his smile never leaving his face. He motioned for Cas to sit down. The only empty seat was the one besides Dean, but Cas didn't say anything and sat down, ignoring the feeling he got in his stomach at being so close to Dean once again. He still didn't know why Dean had wanted Cas to join him. He was clearly not the type of person Dean would want to become friends with. Dean seemed like a person who would be friends with jocks, and the most popular kids in the school. He definitely had the looks for that.

The guy who had addressed Cas earlier introduced himself as Ash, and the other guy as Benny. "Dean told us you would be joining us today." Benny said shaking his hand. He spoke with a strange accent. He grinned at Cas and then turned to look at Dean, his grin getting wider.

Dean rolled his eyes. He leaned back on his seat and turned his gaze towards Cas, who was now very uncomfortable. Their eyes met, and for a few moments all Cas wanted to do was get lost in those beautiful green eyes. Neither of them looked away, the tension between them growing, but easing at the same time, of that was possible. For the first time, Cas noticed freckles on Dean's face. Those tiny specks looked beautiful on Dean's already pretty face, also making his nose interestingly cute. It was not until Cas heard someone audibly clear their throat, that he realized where he was and what he was doing. He quickly averted his eyes, his cheeks flushing red. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Benny and Ash exchange knowing glances. He dared peek a look at Dean, and saw that he was still staring at Cas, a smirk of his face. His face got redder. Five minutes in and he had already managed to embarrass himself. On top of that, he had all these feelings in his chest which he could not comprehend. They were even stronger than the ones he woke up to earlier that morning, and the feeling had just intensified when Cas looked Dean in the eyes.

"Dean told us you were in his biology class yesterday?" Ash asked.

Cas cleared his throat. "Um yes. That's right."  
"About that." Dean said. "Did you do your biology homework ok? If not, I could help you with it."

For a moment Cas considered the idea. He did need some help in biology, and Dean seemed pretty good at it. Maybe… but then the dream he had that morning came back to him and he thought it would not be a good idea.

"No no its ok. I managed. Thanks anyways."

Dean shrugged, but didn't say anything. The four ate in silence for a couple of minutes, when Cas said,"Are you new to the school? Cause I don't remember seeing you around."

Dean smiled at that. "Me and my family shifted here about six months ago. So me and my brother were barely here for what three months?" Ash nodded knowingly. "Right. Three months before the holidays started. So I doubt many people would have noticed me. What with the exams and stuff coming up."

Cas nodded. He wasn't surprised that he hadn't met Dean earlier. He wasn't exactly what one would call "social" and he didn't even know some people who were in the same classes as him since many years. But he couldn't believe that other people wouldn't have noticed Dean. What with looks like that...

Cas took a bite from his crappy burger. Once Bennt and Ash saw that he wasn't going to say anything else, they launched into their own conversation with Dean, mostly about sports and other activities. Cas just listened to them, chipping in once in a while if he had something to say. Mostly he didn't, because he was more of a indoorsy person and didn't know much about sports. Or cars.

But Cas had to admit; these people weren't as bad as he had thought they would be. They didn't make fun of Cas, and actually listened to him when he said something. A few times Cas caught Dean staring at him, and each time his face would turn red. Once, they both turned to look ( _stare_ ) at each other at the same time, and both looked away, Cas blushing, while Dean quickly stuffing his mouth with chips. Cas heard Ash and Benny snigger at each other when it happened, and he too turned his attention on his food.

At one point during their conversation, Dean mentioned that he had History later that day.

"Really? Me too!" Cas exclaimed.  
Dean grinned. "Great. One more class together then."

For the second time in two days, Cas felt disappointment when the bell rang to announce the end of period (or break). As they got up, Dean looked at Cas and said, "Well I guess I'll see you later."  
Cas smiled softly and said, "Yeah ok."

And as Dean and he departed to their respective classes, Cas had this sinking feeling in his gut. He didn't want to leave Dean. He didn't want to take his eyes off of him. He wanted to sit right there, besides him. As the sinking feeling grew, he realized. He realized that he was falling. He was falling for Dean Winchester, and he was falling hard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: If the conversation Dean and Cas and Ash and Benny had felt a bit awkward, then it is completely my fault, because for some reason I lack the ability to converse properly with people and can't come up with topics to talk about. I'd like to thank my dear friend Hannah for a few pointers about that :)  
> Anyways, tell me if you liked it or not. Any criticism is most welcome. Also, I am not familiar with the USA school system, so there might be a few things wrong about that. Pls tell me if you find any <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long for update, but my schools have started and i dont know if I'll be able to update regularly.  
> I edited the previous chapters a little. Nothing major. Just corrected some typos, added something here, deleted something there. It wouldn't really make much difference if you dont read it. The story is still the same. Anyways. Hope you like it :)

Cas had known for a while now that he wasn't completely straight. He had never had any kind of feelings towards girls, so he had figured that he was probably gay. And even though his parents were extremely religious, he didn't have any problem with that. He had been on the Internet for too long for that. In fact he supported the LGBT community.

He had soon realized that he didn't have any particular feelings towards the male gender either. He was not attracted in that sort of way to anyone in the 16 years of his life. So maybe he was aromantic or asexual. The thought of sex had never appealed to him in any sort of way, and even though he thought that people should have their own opinions and knew that most people enjoyed it, he had always been a little grossed out by the idea. For over a year now, he had convinced himself that he was asexual and that he would never have any urges whatsoever to have sex. And it had been true for a very long time too.

But then he met Dean Winchester, and had that stupid dream, and now suddenly he was as gay for Kansas as Bert was for Ernie. Cas sighed. Why did teen age have to be so complicated. Couldn't they just skip past the puberty and hormonal changes and  _feelings?_ These had finally caught up with Cas, albeit a little late, and he was experiencing them at a full blast.

Now that he had admitted to himself that he was homosexual, he allowed himself to think of Dean more freely. He thought about those bright green eyes and how they twinkled when Dean looked at Cas. He thought about how soft and gentle his hands felt when they brushed against Cas' hands. He thought about his tiny freckles which made Dean so much more attractive. He thought about his cocky grin and his leather jacket. And most of all, he thought of his pink, full lips and how it would feel to kiss them...

He stared blankly at the black board, and sighed again. There was twenty more minutes until the end of the period, after which he had History. He felt a chill in his bones at the thought of seeing Dean again. He was nervous and excited, both at the same time, about seeing Dean. But he slumped his shoulders, because he still had to wait twenty more minutes.

Cas sighed for the third time, trying not to think about the time, and instead concentrate on what the teacher was saying. It wasn't easy. But he somehow heard what she was saying, without actually listening to it, and jolted down notes, not even caring what he was writing. He'll just have to examine them later.

Cas didn't know how he survived the next 20 minutes, but somehow he did. The bell rang and before he knew it, he was out of the class, muttering apologies as almost knocked down a couple of students on his way. He was just barely keeping himself from running, moving towards his next class in a fast walk. He just needed to see Dean, despite of seeing him only less than an hour ago.

These feelings were new to Cas, and they surprised him beyond imagination. He never thought he would feel something like this. It clouded his head with thick fog, him not being able to see anything through it except for one tiny spot of light, which spread a warm feeling throughout Cas' body. That light was Dean. Cas barely even knew Dean, but at that moment, he was everything good in this bad world, the only thing right in everything wrong. And that feeling intensified the more he thought about Dean and his perfect face- those beautiful freckles,  those green eyes twinkiling in the light, those short brown hair of his which Cas couldn't look at without wanting to brush his fingers through them. Everything about Dean just felt so right.

"So maybe you have just a little crush on Mr. Winchester, Castiel." He murmured, barely hearing himself in the loud and crowed corridor.  _Just a little._ He sulked a little because Dean was probably not even gay. And even if he was, with looks like that, he could have anyone he wanted. Why would he choose Cas, who was just an average nobody. Dean probably didn't even like him. Maybe the only reason he had asked Cas to join him was because he was pitying him. He must have thought Cas was pathetic. That thought made all the happiness which had formed in Cas' stomach disappear, and turn to self pity.

Castiel slowed his pace, convinced that Dean didn't even want to see him. He turned a corner, and almost fell down as he (literally) bumped into someone. The books, which Cas had not bothered to put in his back pack in his hurry, fell down on the floor. He swore as he bent to pick them up, feeling the person who had bumped into him get down on the floor too.

"Sorry about that." He muttered, barely audible. Cas looked up, surprised as he recognized the voice. 

"Dean?" Cas' breath hitched. Oh God _Dean._

"Cas? Oh hey! Sorry I didn't see you there." Dean said, looking up too. Their eyes met, and for a moment Cas forgot everything. He forgot what he was doing, why he was on the floor, what he was thinking moments before. He numbed out on his surroundings, and just stared at those green eyes, memorizing every little detail they had to offer him. Cas kept staring as Dean slowly broke the contact, and lowered his eyes to Cas' lips, which he realized he was biting. That jerked Cas right out of his numbness and he quickly looked down, blushing, and picked his books up as he slowly stood up. 

"Uh it's alright. I wasn't looking where I was going anyways." Cas said, not looking at Dean. He turned his gaze at him as he stood up too, a confused expression on his face until he realized what Cas was talking about. He shrugged, a cocky grin plastered on his face. Their fingered brushed when Dean handed him his remaining books back, sending a tingling sensation in his body. Cas ignored it as he turned and smiled at Dean shyly.

Suddenly, Dean frowned. "Didn't you say you had History right now?"

"Yes I do. I am on my way there actually. Where were you going?"

 A look of utter confusion came onto Dean's face. "What do you mean? Isn't the history class room that way?" He pointed a finger over Cas' shoulder. 

Cas gave a soft laugh and shook his head bemusedly. "Its the other way, Dean."

Dean shook his head, pouting a little. "I'm pretty sure I was going the right way."

Cas chuckled at that and said,"I have been going to this school for two years more than you. I think I know where I'm going. Come on." He grabbed Dean by the arm, surprising both of them, turning him around in the right direction, blushing a little as he realized what he had just done. He lowered his hand from Dean's upper arm, instantly feeling an urge to touch him again but resisting it, and started walking towards the class that was barely 10 feet away.

"See. It was right here." He said, looking at Dean who had followed him, albeit a bit doubtfully.

Dean gave him a lopsided grin, green eyes meeting blue. His grin was contagious because Cas felt himself grin back at him without even meaning to. 

"Guess you were right." Dean shrugged casually as he pushed passed Cas, his arm brushing Cas' shoulder as he did so. Cas followed him. Dean sat down on a chair in the very last row. Cas didn't know whether he should sit with him or not, so he just lingered there for a moment, before Dean saw him and motioned for him to sit besides him. Cas smiled in relief and put his books on the desk.

"There you are!" Cas looked up at the new voice, and saw a red haired girl approaching them. He looked at Dean to find him grinning at her.

"I thought you were going to wait for me Winchester." She said as she sat down on the desk on the other side of Dean. "I thought you were lost again."

"I almost was." Dean turned to Cas and winked at him. Instantly, his face turned red and he looked down at his books. Out of the corner of his eyes, Cas saw the red head shake her head playfully.

"You are Castiel, right?" Cas blinked at her in surprise. "Do we know each other?" The girl laughed. "Dude we have been in Computer together for two years. How do you not know me? Especially since I'm so vocal." She gave him a wink and Dean rolled his eyes.

"Oh yeah. I think I remember you." That was a total lie from Cas' part. "I'm sorry, I'm not very good at remembering faces."

"No problem-o. I totally understand. Anyways, I'm Charlie."

"A pleasure." Charlie gave him a lopsided grin and shook his hand fiercely. And then, without another word to Cas, Charlie started talking about all the things she had done that day, how she did something (the details are a bit hazy) that somehow made teacher give detention to this Gordon Walker guy (Dean laughed really loud at that part), and then she complained about how she had to miss lunch because Miss Mills (who was their Computer Science teacher) found out that Charlie had hacked into the school server so that whenever a teachers' account would be logged in, a very inappropriate image (let's just say it two women and three men, all of them naked, performing sexual intercourse in a very, um, interesting manner) would pop us on the screen. Fortunately, Jody just made her fix what she had done and let her go with a warning because this was the first time Charlie had ever done something like that (at which Dean snickered, making Cas think that this was  _definitely_ not the first time Charlie had done something like this).

And so it went on as the class quickly got filled with students, and Cas kind of tuned Charlie 's voice out, looking at Dean smiling or laughing at whatever she was saying. The teacher soon came into the class, announcing his presence by telling the class to settle down, and started the lecture. It was a bit boring, but then again, it was history. The teacher, a 50 something year old guy named Rufus Turner, went on and on about the "Indigenous People of North America", occasionally snapping at the students who weren't paying attention.

Cas was usually very interested in History, mostly because he already knew half of the things and it was fun to hear those same things in a different perspective. It helped widen his views. But today was different. Today he had Dean Winchester sitting besides him. Every single thing about Dean distracted Castiel. The was he drummed his fingers on the desk, how he hummed some song every few minutes, the way he doodled on his page, the way he absolutely did not care if Mr. Turner caught if doodling in his book or not. One look at him and it seemed like he had no care in the world. And maybe it was true. Or maybe he cared a lot but hid it. If that was true, he was doing a very good job.

"Mr. Novak!" A rough voice shouted. Cas snapped his head in towards Mr. Turner's direction, only then realising that he had been looking at the doodles Dean had been making.

"Can you tell me which the first tribe to settle down in North America was?" 

Cas knew the answer. He had read it somewhere, but he just couldn't recollect it. All eyes were on him, and he knew that Mr. Turner knew he hadn't been paying attention. His brain had suddenly stopped working. He suddenly realized that Dean was right beside him. He felt his eyes on him, and shivered internally.  What would he think if Cas. Couldn't look into a fucking microscope, couldn't answer such a simple question. He must think that Cas was so dumb. 

"Um.." was all Cas could say.

Mr. Turner sighed. "That's what I thought. I don't know what has been going on with you lately, Castiel, but you need to pay attention in the class. I know you a good kid, a smart kid, but you still gotta pay attention, got it?:

"Yes sir." Cas muttered, feeling his cheeks go red, and looked down at the table, embarrassed. 

As Mr. Turner moved on to some other student to answer the question, Dean leaned towards him and said, "Tough crowd huh?" Dean was very close to him, and it was making him feel certain things. Cas blushed lightly, hoping that Dean hadn't noticed, and shrugged.

"So what's up anyways? You don't look like the kind of student who doesn't pay attention in the class." Dean moved away a little bit, seeing as Mr. Turner had just turned around (no pun intended) and it would get Cas another bit of scolding if he was caught talking in the middle of the period.

Cas shrugged again and said out of corner of his mouth, "I don't know. I guess I'm not feeling that well today." Cas shifted a little so he could get a look at Dean's face. Dean was frowning, looking a little concerned.

"Are you okay?" He seemed to be genuinely concerned about Cas' well being.

"Oh yes yes I am fine." Cas quickly turned his head into his book as he saw Mr. Turner look at him. "I am fine." He said again once the teacher was facing the board again. "Its just... it's nothing."

"Its just what?" Cas could almost see the frown on Dean's face.

"Nothing. Forget it." There was no way in hell Cas was ever going to tell him that this was the effect Dean was having on him. And he couldn't even begin to say how happy, although a bit surprised, it made him feel when he saw how concerned Dean was for him. So maybe there would be something here...

But no Cas couldn't even go towards that direction, because he didn't like to have false hope and then be disappointed later on. Better not to hope for anything from the beginning itself. That way no hearts would be broken, and no tears would be shredded. 

"If you say so." Dean said finally, although he sounded a bit doubtful. Cas took a huge risk, and turned his face to smile at Dean. Fortunately Mr. Turner was not looking. Cas would have missed it if he hadn't been looking so closely at Dean's face, be he seemed a little surprised when Cas smiled at him, and maybe even a little pleased...? But it was gone in a flash of a second, and in a short moment when their eyes met, Dean returned Cas' smile, and Cas looked away.

They didn't speak for the rest of the lecture, but it was comfortable. Dean continued doodling, and Cas continued not paying attention (this time he tried to at least look like he was listening to what Turner was saying), but unlike the first half of the period, this seemed more relaxed. One time, Dean and Charlie exchanged some words Cas couldn't hear, was Dean was shaking his head, and he was trying to look angry or something, but he was failing horribly, and Charlie grinned and nudged him with her elbow, at which Dean glared at her, but couldn't stop himself from smiling back, a little reluctantly, either. But he had quickly looked away, his head down in his book.

The bell rang and Cas and Dean said their good byes. It was computer science which Cas and Charlie has together, while Dean apparently had opted for shop. Before they could talk any longer, Charlie practically dragged him out of the class because she didn't want to be late to their first Computer class of the year. Cas couldn't believe how comfortable she seemed to be with him. Like they just met 40 minutes ago, and she barely even knew him, but she was acting like they had been best friends for years. And oddly enough, it was very nice and comforting. 

Cas smiled at himself as he allowed Charlie to drag him to the computer lab. This was going to be a very interesting year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't like this chapter much, although I am hoping it wasn't that bad xD. Tell me what you think :) Also, I think the next chapter will be in Dean's pov, and then I'll just keep changing the povs as required.


	5. Chapter 5

Dean was crazy about Cas. It had only been two days since they even started talking and he was crazy about him. To be fair he had always had had a small crush on the cute little nerd. On his first day of school six months ago, he had found Castiel sitting on the stairs leading to the second floor, reading some novel. He hadn't even noticed Dean staring at him for what might have been a few seconds, or an hour. He had continued reading until he was jerked out of his own world when the had bell rang.

The first thing that had drawn Dean towards the smaller guy were his mesmerising eyes. They were bluer than the sky, shinning bright as he kept reading. Dean had then taken in his whole appearance; his unkempt hair so dark that it was almost black, his arms and legs skinny, but at the same time looking big and strong. And he was cute as hell. He had been wearing a light blue sweater (which brought out the sapphire in his eyes) and jeans, and he quite honestly looked _adorable_. There was nothing exactly unique about his features, but at the same time everything about him felt different and... special. 

Dean hadn't known it at that time, but in those few seconds, Dean Winchester had fallen for the cute blue eyed angel whose name he didn't even know. Over the next three months of working school, Dean saw Cas everywhere. On his way to his classes, in cafeteria, once Dean even saw him in a library outside of school. But didn't couldn't ever bring himself to talk to him, which was weird because Dean was very smooth when it came to flirting, might it be a guy or a girl, and with one wink he would have that person swooning over him.

But with Cas, his heart started beating really fast, and there was fluttering in his stomach, and he could barely think when in his presence. And by 'in his presence' Dean meant staring at him ten feet away. Cas always had his head in one book or another whenever Dean saw him in the hallway, and if not that, he would have his ears plugged with earphones, listening to music. 

In about two weeks, Dean had memorized his entire schedule, and would rush out of his class just so he could catch a glimpse of the blue eyed cutie. He even bumped into him "accidently" a couple of times, but he was so engrossed in whatever he was reading (and also that a lot of people bumped into him everyday) that he didn't even look at Dean before adjusting himself and walking away. 

Dean had made friends very quickly in the new school. It didn't really surprise him since he was pretty good looking and charming (as he was told more than once) and he always seemed to attract as certain crowd towards him. It was nothing new for him. On his first day, a red head had bumped into him, and then had started blabbing, and basically that was how he made his first friend in the school. Charlie, as it turned out, hung out with some pretty awesome people, and Dean had fit right in, in the group, which consisted of Charlie, Benny, Ash, Meg, and Crowley.

A few weeks in, Charlie, who had become Dean's best friend, had asked him if he was alright. Apparently he hadn't been so good at hiding his super gay crush on Castiel as he had thought. At that point he still didn't know his name. Charlie had been eyeing him suspiciously for the last couple of days but hadn't said anything until then. They had been in the cafeteria, and that day, Blue Eyes (as Dean called him in his head) had been seating only three tables away from them. Charlie and Dean had been sitting alone because Charlie had pulled him away from the others and had sat him down on the table, demanding for an answer until he finally told her. 

It was hard for him to open up to some one he had barely known for a month, but Charlie made it easy. She was a good listener, and that she was a lesbian helped. When Dean pointed blue yes out, Charlie frowned, but that frown soon turned into a smile.

"I am not surprised you like him." She said grinning.

It was Dean's turn to frown. "Why not?"

"The dude has looks! I would totally be swooning over him if I didnt play for the other team myself." She winked at him. Dean rolled his eyes.

"If he is so 'swoony' then why doesn't he have friends?" Dean sat back and folded his hands, a little defensive for some reason.

Charlie shrugged. "Probably because he's very awkward. He doesn't talk to anyone, and if someone approaches him, the conversation barely lasts a few minutes before the other person gets uncomfortable, or he just doesn't say anything. It's not his fault; he's just not very good with people. Also, there are rumors that he is gay."

Dean almost choked at the last part. He had been worried that the guy might not be into men, but maybe there was still hope then...

"He is gay?" Dean tried to sound casual eventhough he had just told Charlie about his big fat crush in him. Charlie of course didn't buy it and gave him a lopsided grin.

"Oh don't get your panties tight. They are just rumors. And people, that is the people who bother to notice him, think that only because he seems to have no interest in ladies. I can't understand that though. What is there not to like!" Charlie moved hands up and down her body, winking. Dean chuckled.

"Can't argue there." Dean grinned. "But hey, I'd rather have him gay than not, if you know what I mean." But then Dean frowned. "How do you know so much about him anyways?"

Charlie grinned at him mysteriously. "Because I'm a genius that's how." 

"Of come on!"

"Fine fine. He's with me in the Computer class. I don't think he knows me. I don't think he knows anyone there. Keeps to himself most of the time. He's pretty good at it though. Not almost as good as me, but good enough" She smirked. Dean rolled his eyes.

"Makes sense. He does have Computer on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays." Dean muttered more to himself than to Charlie.

"Dean Winchester! Are you seriously telling me that you have his entire time table memorised!?"

Dean winced, regretting what he had said seconds ago. "Maybe."

"I can't believe this. This is more than simple crush. You really like this guy." There was something in Charlie ' s eyes. Was that admiration? Pride? _No._

"Yeah. I do. And the thing is, I don't even know his name! I keep calling him blue eyes." 

Charlie laughed. "You have got to be kidding me. You go through all the trouble of remembering some guy's schedule, which is different for each day of the week, but you don't know his name?"

"Hey! How was I supposed to know his name? I couldn't exactly go up to him and outright ask him-"

"Why not?"

"Because he doesn't even know I exist!" At that point, blue eyes had gotten up from his table, and was walking towards the door. Dean had noticed that he never read a book in the cafeteria. Probably too much noise. Although, he always had his earphones. Dean's eyes followed him out the door, feeling a little disappointed. 

Charlie cleared her throat. Dean blushed, looking away, and he felt, more than saw, her grin mischievously at him.

"So are you going to tell me his name or what?" He snapped at her.

"Castiel Novak." She said simply, still grinning like a maniac. 

 _Castiel._ Dean though. It was a weird name. Maybe he'd ask him about it one day...

For the rest of the school year, as well as all of the summer holidays, Charlie had teased Dean continously. His other friends knew something had been going on, but Charlie had kept her promise she had made Dean of not telling anyone about his crush.

He had spent more than 2 months without seeing Cas, and they had  _sucked._ All he could think about were those beautiful blue eyes. He had dug out all the information he could get out of his Facebook page ages ago. Two weeks into the summer break he got so agitated that he had even created a instagram account, just so he could stalk Cas on there too. Unfortunately, it was private. Fortunately, Charlie, the crazy genius that she was, had somehow dug out all his posts without actually having sent a follow request. Dean was very frustrated to find that 90% of his posts contained the pictures of cats and clouds in the skies and blue seas, and for some reason, bees. There were only two pictures of him, both of which he had seen millions of times on Facebook. 

Dean tired not to be so irritated about that since his own social medias weren't anything special themselves. 

Dean didn't know how he survived the rest of the holidays, but he did. And when the day finally came, he was ready to leave half an hour before they were supposed to go.

Sam had been baffled by his enthusiasm since Dean hated school. But Dean had just laughed, slinging his arm across Sam's shoulders, and told him that he was just being extra cautious because it was Sam's freshman year and he had to still find his way around the school. Sam had visibly not bought the story, narrowing his eyes accusingly. He probably thought Dean was up to something, but thankfully had let it go.

It was only when he was on his way to homeroom after collecting his timetable that he realized that Cas' timetable would have changed too, and he had no idea where he might be. But he looked around nonetheless, to no avail. It wasn't until the lunch break when Dean finally caught a sight of the blue eyed angel. He had just entered the cafeteria with a book in his hands. He had settled down on a table in the corner, trying to read whichever book it was this time. But he had closed the book with a frustrated look on his face, and had settled on just eating his meal. No earphones this time. And Dean just looked at him. He hadn't changed much during the past couple of months. He had grown taller, maybe by half an inch, still shorter than Dean though, and maybe he had gotten a little leaner, but in a good way. It gave his body a really good shape. 

Charlie kept nudging him and smirking at him knowingly whenever Dean's eyes wondered towards Cas, but hadn't said anything.  Meg and Crowley hadn't been interested, but Ash and Benny had looked at Charlie and Dean questioningly, more than a couple of times.

Finally, he and his friends made their way out of the cafeteria, all of them laughing at some joke Dean had made about some nonsense they had been talking about earlier. They walked right pass Castiel, and that's when, for the first time, Dean felt Cas' eyes on him. It was very brief, only a second maybe, but a jolt of electricity passed through Dean and he turned around, looking at Cas as he walked away in the opposite direction.

* * *

 

Dean couldn't believe his eyes when he arrived late in the biology class and saw none other then Castiel Novak sitting right there! One look around the class told him that the seat next to him was the only empty one. Dean couldn't help but grin at that.  _This couldn't possibly be happening._

It was the best 45 minutes of his life. Cas was even more beautiful closer, if that was possible. Dean acted like he didn't know who Cas. He didn't want to come off as a stalker. Whenever Dean looked at him, or heard his lovely deep voice, or their fingers brushed, he tried to push the fluttery feeling in his stomach away. He tried to act cool and as normal as possible. Hiding his feelings wasn't hard for Dean since he had mastered that art ages ago. He really liked Cas and honestly didn't want to scare him away. But when he a got a chance where they could actually become friends, he grabbed it at once. Cas had seemed a little surprised at his offer, so Dean had moved on quickly before he could ask any questions, or worse, say no. So you can imagine Dean's utmost joy when Cas said yes.

Neither Sam nor John could figure out why Dean was so happy all of a sudden. He had been sulking all summer, but as soon as school started, he was suddenly the brightest star in the galaxy.

When Dean had told what had happened to Charlie, she had jumped up and down with excitement screaming something about "totally shipping it" and "otp" whatever the hell that meant. She had promised that she would be there the next day during the lunch break, much to Dean's dismay, because no way was she going to let him live in peace when his one big crush was probably sitting right beside him.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, she didn't show up (which made Dean worry a little, but not enough to go looking for her). But Benny and Ash didn't let Charlie's absence be felt. Its seemed they had finally realized what was up with Dean, and why Charlie was always teasing him. The way those two idiots were behaving, God, what must Cas be thinking of him? But otherwise, it worked out quite well according to Dean. At least he hadn't made a _complete_ fool of himself. And Dean was very pleased to find out that they had another lecture together later that day! Great! Something else to look forward to.

The next period had gone in a blur, Dean thinking about nothing but Cas. When the time finally came, he bumped into Castiel, and later made a fool of himself by stubbornly insisting that he was right in thinking that the History class was the other way. But it had made Cas laugh (much to Dean's delight) so all was well in the end.

Charlie had finally shown up. Dean was a little annoyed because he had wanted to talk to Cas, and also because she was going to make things very awkward between them since she knew about Dean's massive crush. Dean was surprised, to say the least, when that was not how things went.

"You should be kissing my ass right now." She had said out of the corner of her mouth. Dean hadn't argued.

Dean was even more surprised that she had teased him only once during all of the 45 minutes. Not that Dean was going to complain. As long as she didn't do anything to make Cas doubt anything, he was good. Dean had been very disappointed when the period had finally gotten over. Even if they had barely talked. Just being in Cas' presence felt right.

Now, Dean sat on Charlie's chair in her room, his feet resting on her study table. Charlie herself was laying down on her bed, looking expectantly at Dean.

"No." Dean said firmly, glaring at her.

"Oh come on! Just ask him out."

Dean's glare intensified. "Charlie..." He said warningly.

"But why not!? You obviously like him. More than like him." She wiggled her eyes teasingly at that and continued,"You always go after any girl you want. So why not go after Castiel?" She said, as stubborn as Dean.

"This is different." Dean mumbled.

"How?" She demanded.

"Well for one we don't even know if he is gay. You said yourself that they were just rumors. And even if he was, he doesn't like me."

"Like hell he doesn't! I guess you were too busy staring at him to notice that he was staring right back! He likes you. You weren't there in the Computer period. He was asking all kinds of questions about you, trying to look casual, but it was obvious that he was interested, and I'm not saying that just because he got nervous whenever I mentioned you, or how his eyes twinkled adoringly whenever he said your name. He definitely likes you. Take a chance for once Dean!"

Dean didn't say anything. He didn't believe that Cas would like him. And even though Dean hadn't seen Cas with anyone before, he was pretty sure that he was straight.

"He only just found out I existed 2 days ago." Dean finally muttered.

"What so only you can have love at first sight?" Charlie's tone was teasing, it had gone softer and when Dean looked at her, she was smirking.

"I don't love him!" Dean said, going red.

Charlie her hands up in surrender. "Just meant it as a figure if speech." But she looked very amused. Dean glared at her and snorted.

"So it's settles then. You are going to ask Prince Charming out,  _and,"_ She continued, glaring at Dean as he opened his mouth to interrupt,"if you don't, I will push you two into a closet and let you out only after you have kissed. Handle this the proper high school kind of way." She winked at Dean, but he knew that she meant every word and if he didn't ask Cas out, she would do exactly what she promised to do, and then there would be no way out.

Maybe he _should_ ask Cas out. He did like him very much, and he would really love to feel those beautiful lips on his. But just thinking about it made him nervous. Dean rubbed his face with his palms and groaned into them. _How was he going to survive the next few days?_  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the kudos and reviews guys! I really appreciate them.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys pls bear with me on this one ok? I am a non American and have close to no idea how the American education system works.
> 
> Also, gishwhes (it is my first time I am so excited!) week is soon so I don't think I will be able to update again before 6th August. I'd like to apologize for all the typos that are most definitely going to be there. Hope it's not too bad and you like it <3

 

Castiel woke up to some very loud and irritating ringing noise next to him. He groaned as he turned in his bed, bringing his hand towards the noise.  _Just shut up!_ He shouted in his head. For some reason that didn't seem to work. He forced himself to open his eyes because the noise wasn't stopping. In fact it was growing louder by the second. His eyes fell onto the side table where his phone was glowing. The sound seemed to be coming from there. Cas groaned again.

"I am never using this tune as the alarm again." He mumbled to himself groggily. He distinctly remembered having a dream as he turned the alarm off. He rubbed his eyes in frustration at the fleeting memory of the dream. It had been a good dream dammit! But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember what it was about. But considering the past few days, it was probably about Dean Winchester. Yeah it was definitely about Dean Winchester.

Cas sighed. He sat up in his bed, and smiled broadly as he recalled the events of the previous day. He smiled broader as he realized that today he had both Biology, and History. Two classes with Dean. 90 minutes with Dean. Cas just wished he didn't ruin anything. Although, looking at his past, he probably would. But he didn't want to ruin his good mood so he didn't think of that and instead jumped into the shower.

* * *

 

He thought about Dean as he was walking on his way to school. He seemed to be doing that a lot. When he was not with him, Cas was constantly thinking about Dean, and while he was with him, Cas didn't want to leave. Maybe this obsession was unhealthy, but Cas didn't care. He didn't  _want_ to care, because this was Dean. Something so pure and beautiful cannot possibly unhealthy right? 

It was Wednesday, so biology period was the first one, right after homeroom. But that's alright, Cas could use that much extra time to prepare himself, because no matter how many times he saw Dean, he didn't think he would ever get used to him.

Before Cas realized, he was standing infront of the school. He looked around once, not even knowing why. Maybe he was subconsciously looking for Dean, or maybe even Charlie. Charlie had been great yesterday. It was the first time in his life that Castiel didn't feel awkward talking to a person. She just made it so easy, and if there was even a tiny bit chance that there would be an uncomfortable silence between them, she quickly filled it with her never ending chatter. And Cas was really grateful for that.

Taking one deep breath, Cas walked into the building. He was actually feeling more nervous then he was yesterday. Maybe that's because yesterday he did not know what it was that he was feeling and he was really confused and scared. But today, he was at par with his feelings, and the fluttering in his stomach was a combination of nervousness and anticipation.

It wasn't until the biology period that Cas finally saw Dean. Cas had been one of the first one's to be in the class. About 2 minutes later, Dean entered, a grin plastered on his face. Maybe Cas imagined it, but he could have sworn that when Dean saw him, his grin faltered a little before turning even bigger and brighter.

"Hey Cas." Dean said in greeting as he plopped down besides Castiel.

"Hello Dean." Cas said with a smile.

Dean opened his mouth to say something but he was interrupted by a single beep coming from his pocket. He frowned and took out his cell phone. Dean scowled as he read the message, and put his phone back without replying. Cas looked at Dean questioningly.

"That was Charlie. Uh it's nothing." Dean waved him off with his hand and looked away. Dean bit his lower lip, thinking hard. Apparently having come to a decision, he turned towards Cas, who was tracing his every movement very closely, and said,"Cas." He cleared his throat, and said nothing else.

"Yes?" Cas said prompting him on. Dean cleared his throat again and continued," I um I wanted to ask you a question-" But before Dean could ask his question, Mr. Greenwood entered the class and the class fell silent as the students took their seats. Cas looked at Dean. He actually looked a little relieved. Cas tilted his head to the side and looked at Dean curiously. What could Dean possibly want to ask him that had him so nervous? 

 Mr. Greenwood told the class to continue the work they were doing last time. In addition to that, he gave everyone new slides to look at, explaining what they were and what they were supposed to see under the microscope. Cas made particular effort to catch every single word he said and to not look at Dean the entire time. A thought had crossed Cas' mind. What if Dean had been uncomfortable because of Cas ' behaviour towards him? What if that's what Dean had wanted to ask Cas. That he didn't want Cas to look at him that way? What if he knew everything that was going on in Cas' head and heard every time he was near Dean? What if he hadn't wanted Cas to not sit with him and his friends at the cafeteria anymore?

Cas' heart fell at those thoughts. He didn't want Dean to be uncomfortable around him. He wanted to keep being Dean's friend, if that's what he was right now. He wanted to keep things the way they were. He didn't want anything to change.

Cas' thoughts were interrupted when he felt a soft tingling sensation in his neck, which he had come to know as "someone is staring at you." He looked rightwards where Dean sat. He was looking at Cas, and when Cas turned to return his gaze, he quickly smiled and cleared his throat.

"You were not paying attention again were you?" Dean said with a knowing smirk. Cas blushed. How that happened he did not know because one second he was trying to catch every word Mr. Greenwood said and next he had no idea what he was supposed to do.

Dean chucked. "Good for you, I was paying attention." Then he added," for once. Come on I'll show you what to do."

And so that's how it went. Dean told him what they were supposed to do. He adjusted the microscope for Cas again, like last time. And Cas took notes while Dean just stood there carefree. It was like a rerun of the biology period on Monday, except that Cas and Dean were a little more familiar with each other now.

"You know, the only reason I know this crap is because Sammy wanted to become a doctor when he was in middle school." Dean said at one point.

"Sammy?" Cas asked, looking up from his notes and tilting his head a little in confusion.

Cas saw Dean's twitch upwards slightly, barely noticeable. "My younger brother. He's a freshman this year. The dude is probably smarter than this entire class put together. He is in four AP classes if you'd believe it. For the last two years he had it in his head that he wanted to become a doctor when he grew up. He wanted to help people. Now he wants to become a lawyer. Says he's going to put all the criminals in jail." Dean had this fondness in his eyes when he spoke about his brother. He was now smiling very broadly, and had this faraway look like he was thinking about his brother. He obviously loved his brother very much.

Cas smiled at Dean. The way he was talking about Sam was so adorable, and it brought out something completely new in Dean's personality, and Cas was really glad he got to experience it.

"He sounds like a really nice guy." Cas said, still smiling.

"He is." Dean said, his smile growing fonder. "You should meet him sometimes. I think he would like you."

Cas tried to hide his surprise and said,"I would love to."

Dean looked at Cas for a few moments, something in his eyes that Cas couldn't make out. He tilted his head again. Dean's eyes crinkled, his smile not reaching his lips, and he looked away with a soft cough. 

The pessimist part of his brain said that Dean was nerved by Cas' continual staring at him and that he was just trying ease up the air by the short conversation, but there was still a small part that still had some hope. Maybe Dean liked him too. But Cas didn't want false hope so he pushed that part away.

"So do you have any siblings?" Dean asked, his eye now on the lens of the microscope. Cas realized with a start that he was still staring at Dean and he quickly looked away.

"Uh what? Oh. Yeah. Yeah I have a sister and a brother. They are twins. Older than me. They are a bunch of dicks though." Cas grabbed his pen, embarrassed by his stuttering, and started jolting down some notes, not wanting to humiliate himself more. 

Cas was surprised when he heard Dean laugh besides him. Cas looked up and saw that he was looking at him again, a grin on his face that reached his eyes. Cas frowned.

"What?" He asked.

Dean shook his head and laughed again. "Nothing, it's just that I think this is the first time I heard you swear, and you make it sound so innocent. It is cute." 

Cas felt blood rushing in his cheeks before he could even comprehend what Dean was saying.  _Dean just called me cute._ Cas realized. He was blushing so hard he was sure his face was as red as a tomato. 

Cas didn't know what to say. He looked at Dean and saw that his cheeks were slightly pink.  He wouldn't even have noticed it if he hadn't been so close to him right now. _Was Dean blushing?_ Maybe he wasn't, but for some reason Cas found that thought very endearing. Suddenly all he wanted to do was kiss Dean right then and there. They were so close. And Dean's lips were so full and so pink. They were just waiting to be kissed.

But Cas couldn't do that. He couldn't take that chance and ruin what they had here. He wouldn't be able to bare it if Cas kissed Dean and he pushed him away and demanded what the fuck he was doing.

He glanced one more time at Dean's lips and looked away reluctantly. He was not going to do this. Not here anyways. Beside him, Dean shifted in his seat. When Cas glanced at him from the corner of his eyes, he was looking away too, his full focus on the microscope and it's contents. For the rest of the period, they worked in silence, the air around them filled with awkwardness. Cas' earlier doubts kept nagging him in the back of his head. He was basically waiting for Dean to tell him he didn't ever want to see Cas again. But the bell rang indicating the end of the period and Dean did no such thing.

Cas kept catching Dean stealing glances towards him when  _Cas_  wastrying to look at him. To his relief, Dean told Cas that he would see him during lunch. By that time, Cas was really expecting him to just leave without so much as a goodbye. Guess Cas will just have to see what happens then. 

* * *

Cas had already paid for his lunch and was about to go look for Dean when he heard a female voice yelling his name. He turned around, and saw a red head- Charlie- waving at him from about four tables away. He smiled and made to walk towards her table. He noticed that the table was a lot fuller than it was yesterday. He recognized Benny, Ash, Charlie, and... was that Meg? He blinked. Meg was friends with Dean?

Cas had an... interesting history with Meg. In his sophomore year Cas had decided to go to a party one of the popular kids had hosted. He had basically invited everyone in the school, and since everyone was going, Cas had thought he should go too, if just to move out of his comfort zone and be social for a change. What he didn't,  but should have, realized was that there was going to be a lot of alcohol involved.  _And_ that his siblings were going to be there as well since they were still in high school back then. 

They had made a deal that none of them would tell their parents they were there, but Gabe and Anna 's one condition was that Cas had at least a couple of drinks, so that he wouldn't have a upper hand, since they were definitely going to drink. A lot. They had left him at the bar after he had gulped down a couple of shots, but he had soon been joined by a short skinny girl. She had asked him if she could get him a drink. By that time, he had been feeling very lightheaded already since it was his first time consuming any alcohol, so he had giggled a little and said yes. Fast forward to a couple of shots later, and Cas had found himself in a closet with Meg, as he later found out was her name, all over him. Fortunately he was pulled out of his stupor when Meg went ahead and groped him. He had pushed her away and walked right out of the closet. It had been then that Cas had known for sure that he didn't like girls. He had seen her a few times after that incident at school, but they had never talked. And now Meg was right there in front of him. What was he going to do?

But before he could do anything, Meg greeted him with a, "Hey Clarence." She grinned a lopsided grin. Cas grimaced. He had forgotten that she had liked to call him Clarence for some reason.

"Hello Meg." Cas tried to smile, but he just couldn't. The memory of that night wasn't a very pleasant one and Cas tried not to think about it much. 

"You two know each other?" Charlie said in surprise. Cas smiled a little at her as he sat down besides her and opposite to Meg. "Yeah. We met very briefly last year."

"It could have been longer but Clarence being the sweet pure unicorn that he is left before any of the actual fun started, leaving me all hot and bothered." Meg winked at Cas. Cas, who had chosen that moment to take a drink from his bottle of water, almost choke on it.

"We were not... it's not...it was not like that." Cas said at last, blushing deeply. Charlie rolled her eyes, "don't worry about it Cas. Meg has a knack for humiliating other people." Then addressing Meg, she continued,"I bet you found someone else to hook up with." Meg grinned evilly at her and winked again. Charlie shook her head. "This is Crowely." She said pointing towards a short dude with thin black hair, the only person in the group Cas hadn't recognized. 

"A pleasure." Crowley said, in what Cas could only recognize as a Scottish accent. What was with Dean and having friends with weird accents?

Cas nodded. "Hey Cas." Ash said, giving him a two finger salute. Benny smiled at him and nodded in greeting.

Before anyone could say anything, Ash stood up and shouted,"Dean!" Cas blinked. He had completely forgotten that the actual reason he was sitting there was Dean.

"Hey!" He heard Dean's voice, with footsteps coming from behind him. "I see Cas made it."  _Maybe he is disappointed about that?_ A thought made its way across his mind. He still wasn't fully convinced that Dean wasn't regretting his invitation to Cas. But he pushed it away, because Dean was here and he wasn't saying anything was he?

"Yeah. Hello Dean." Cas turned around in his chair and smiled at Dean. He was holding a tray in his hands, and he was looking right at Cas.

"I'm going to stop you right there." Benny said holding up his hand.

Dean sat down beside Benny and popped a cracker in his mouth and asked," What are you talking about?"

"If you two are going to keep having eye sex, at least have the curtsy to control yourself until you are not in public. People are eating here." Cas tried to not blush. He really did, but he just couldn't help himself from turning red. He saw that Dean himself was a little pink, but his face remained expressionless.

"I'm not so sure about that. I want to experience my first, why did you call it-" Crowley looked at Charlie and continued,"-destiel moment. It can get pretty intense from what I have heard."

"Oh it can get intense alright." Ash said with a wink directed at Cas. Cas grew redder, if that was possible.

"I- um-" Cas tried and failed to form a proper sentence, but thankfully Dean interrupted.

"Don't mind them." He said rolling his eyes, but he was still slightly pink. "They are just bored and need something to gossip about. Shut it guys." Dean glared at his friends.

"Aww look at that. Dean is protecting his boyfriend." Charlie said, and then made a smooching noise. Meg gagged.

"Charlie..." Dean said warningly. Dean's glare was so fierce, Cas was surprised that Charlie didn't burst out in flames from it.

"So I am guessing you didn't do that thing we talked about earlier?" Charlie said, completely unaffected under Dean's glare. 

Dean's glare intensified. "No."

"I told you there would be consequences if you didn't go through with our deal, Dean." Charlie said, something akin to threat in her voice.

Dean scowled. "Just give it a little time Charlie. I'll do it soon. But not today."

It was Charlie's turn to glare at him. "We'll talk about this later." Dean seemed to be a little relieved that she had dropped to subject for now at least, so he didn't argue. Cas was curious as to what they were talking about but he didn't want to intrude. It wasn't any of his business anyways.

Cas kind of zoned out when Dean and his friends started having their own conversation. His thoughts just wondered from one place to another, like they did most of the times. He just couldn't control them. He wouldn't even realize he had zoned out until much later after which whichever person he was "talking" with might have concluded that he was crazy. Cas hoped these people didn't do that. It isn't like he didn't want to talk or socialize, it's just that he didn't have anything to talk about.

Cas saw Charlie whisper something into Dean's ear, who turned to glare at Meg, who was staring at Cas at the moment. As soon as Cas realized that, he shifted uncomfortably in his chair and focused his full attention on his food. Which apparently he had already finished.  _When the hell did that happen?_ Cas wondered, taking a sip from his water.

Cas snapped out of it when the bell rang. The seven of them got up, and said their good byes as they walked towards their respective classes. Cas blinked in confusion as Charlie and Dean walked towards him. Dean laughed seeing his expression.

"We have History. Did you forget?" Cas almost didn't catch that because Dean's laughter was just so beautiful. Just like Dean. Everything about him was so beautiful...

"Oh right. Sorry." Cas turned pink and shrugged.

"Come on or we'll be late." Charlie grabbed hold of Cas' arm, much like she had done the previous day, and the three of making their way towards the classroom, Dean shaking his head and grinning widely, and Cas smiling sheepishly as Charlie dragged him along.


	7. Chapter 7

 

It was Sunday and tomorrow Dean was definitely going to ask Cas out. He had made up his mind. Charlie had convinced him. Well more like threatened that she would tell Cas everything Dean had told Charlie about his feeling. In _confindence_ that she wouldn't tell a soul. Apparently he was wrong. So that was it. Tomorrow marked his rise or fall.

"Dean what the  _hell_ are you doing?" An irritated voice from across him asked.

Dean looked up from his plate and looked at his little brother with a frown. Sam snorted and looked pointedly at Dean's plate. He hadn't eaten a bite since they had sat down and was playing around unconsciously with his eggs. It was very unlike Dean to not eat his food, especially the first meal of the day.

"What has been going on with you lately Dean?" Sam said with a genuine look of concern on his face. Dean sigh. He knew Sam worried about him, almost as much as Dean worried about Sam. But Dean wasn't ready to open up to him. Not yet. Hell the only reason he had told Charlie was because she was a fucking vulture who did anything to get what she wanted.

"Its nothing Sammy. Eat your food." Dean pushed his own untouched plate of food away. He was too nervous and excited to eat.

Sam scowled at him. "It is nothing, my ass! You have been acting really weird lately. You smile too much, you don't talk, you are always lost in your own world, and you take way too long in the shower. And I know what you do when you take too long in the shower." Sam glared at him and Dean blushed, too ashamed to hide it.

  _Dammit Sam._ This boy was too smart for his own goods. So maybe Dean had been jerking off at nights everyday since the past week, and maybe it was to the thoughts of a certain blue eyed boy. So what!? It wasn't like he was doing anything wrong. He was a teenage boy with certain needs that need to be fulfilled.

"Just leave it Sam." Dean said softly, not looking at him.

"Who is she?" Sam asked abruptly.

Dean blinked. "Excuse me."

Now Sam looked annoyed. " _Who is she_? The girl you are so obviously crushing on." When Dean didn't say anything, and reddened even more, Sam smirked. "I knew it! Come on, tell me Dean. I always tell you stuff like that."

"You know I am not comfortable sharing my feelings, Sam." Dean said shifting in his chair. Sam rolled his eyes. "Fine. Don't tell me your 'feelings'-" Dean could practically _hear_ the air quotes in his voice,"- but you can at least tell her name. Or is it a he?" Sam already knew about his sexuality so Dean shouldn't have been surprised when he implied that, but he still was. And Sam, the genius that idiot was, read his face like a book. 

"It is boy!? Dude you totally fell for a boy. So what's his name." Sam was practically jumping in his seat. Dean scowled at him, but he couldn't keep it on his face for long as a smile replaced it at his little brother's excitement for him.

"His name is Castiel. And that's all you are going to get from me so leave it sasquatch."

Sam chose to ignore the second part and said," Castiel. Hmm. Weird name. So are you two dating?"

Dean scowled, but seeing that Sam wasn't going to change the subject anytime soon he said," No. We are just friends."

"Well are you going to ask him out or what?"

Dean glared at his brother. "Not that it is any of your business, but yes I am. Tomorrow."

Sam looked surprised. "You are actually gonna ask him out?"

"What's so surprising about that!?" Dean said a little defensively. "I have asked out many people before."

"Yes but you actually like this guy."

"What so you think I don't like any of the people I go out with." Dean scowled again.

"This is different. You have been brooding over this guy for at least a week, and maybe more if your mood swings for the past few months had been about him. I didn't think you would have the guts to make a move." Sam shrugged. Dean didn't say anything, because Sam was right. He wouldn't ever ask Cas out if not for Charlie.

"Shut up." Dean muttered finally, and got up from his seat and put his plate in the sink. As he started walking towards his room, Sam shouted after him,"Hey wait! I am not done with you. I still need to know what Castiel looks like. Dean!"

"Maybe later, Dr. Phil." And with that Dean shut his door to his room, locking it behind him. It was 8:30 am. Dean had waken up more than an hour ago because of habit. Now he had the full day ahead of himself with absolutely no plans whatsoever. Maybe he should call Charlie, but she was probably sleeping. She usually didn't wake up on weekends until midday. Today can't be any different.

Dean sighed. Despite his earlier thoughts about not wanting to tell Sam about anything, he actually felt a lot lighter. He didn't like keeping secrets from Sam, and it felt good to talk to someone other than Charlie, who, Dean knew, had good intentions, but just wouldn't stop teasing him, and if not that, bugging him about asking Cas out.

Dean didn't have anything to do. He didn't want to watch TV or read a book. He still had some homework to finish but he wasn't in any mood to do that either. So he just lay there on his bed, thinking.

About 30 minutes later Sam called out that he was going to Jess'. Dean smiled. Sam kept saying that nothing was going on between them, and that he didn't like her that way, but Dean knew that sooner or later they would start dating, and no one would be prouder than him.

He just hoped they wouldn't move again before it happen. Dean frowned at that thought. He knew dad didn't like to stay in one place for too long. He just couldn't do it. The longest they had stayed at one place was for two years, and it had almost destroyed dad. He needed to keep moving, or that place would engulf him. And Dean understood that. But sometimes he just wished they could be like a normal family. Have a nice and cosy and  _permanent_ home, and not some cheap, crappy apartment. But he knew that wouldn't ever happen. Not since mom wasn't in the family anymore...

But he didn't want to think of his mother, so instead he turned his thoughts towards Cas. What if tomorrow John decided that he wanted to leave, and Dean would never be able to see the angel again? What if he would never be able to ask him? What if he would never be able to look into his eyes again and get lost into the endless blue? Dean didn't want that to happen. He wanted to stay in this place forever. He didn't want to lose his friends. Not again. And he especially didn't want to lose Cas.

With a sudden need to talk to Cas, Dean grabbed his phone. They had exchanged numbers a few days ago. They had texted each other several times, and once Dean had even called him to ask him the homework for Biology, eventhough honestly he had just wanted to hear Cas' gruff voice.

Today though he had no reason to call Cas. They weren't exactly besties, so Dean didn't know how he would react if he just called him casually. So instead Dean decided on texting him.

After pondering for a few minutes, Dean typed in:

_Good morning Cas._

Dean waited nervously, staring at the phone, hoping Cas wouldn't be creeped out. He only had to wait a few minutes. His phone buzzed as a message came from Castiel.

**Good morning Dean :)**

Immediately, a warm feeling spread over Dean. He grinned. Cas was not creeped out.

_What are you doing?_

Within seconds, a new message came:

**I had just gotten out of shower when I saw your message. Wbu?**

Dean tried very hard not to think of Cas naked in his room, his wet hair sticking out even more than usual, water dripping down his face. He shuddered at the image that popped up in his head, and his dick twitched. Goddammit this was not the appropriate time for this. He quickly typed out:

_Nothing much._

He knew it was lame and sounded like he was uninterested, but he didn't know what else to say.

**Oh.**

Dean wanted to smack his head. Before he could bring himself out of doing it, he typed and sent:

_Do you have any plans today?_

Dean waited a full minute before the reply came:

**Unfortunately yes. Some of my relatives are coming home later today, and they rarely visit so I have to be here :(**

Disappointment washed over Dean because he had really wanted to see Cas. He would have called Charlie and Benny too so it wouldn't have looked too suspicious, but it's ok. He was going to see Cas tomorrow. He can control himself for that long.

_Oh. That sucks. See you tomorrow Cas!_

**Ok. Good bye Dean.**

* * *

 

Cas stared at his phone. He wanted to throw it out of the window, or maybe jump out of it himself. Dean had texted him. But more importantly he had wanted to meet. At least that's what it had meant right? But Cas' stupid aunt and uncle and their kid were coming. Why did they have to come today!?

Cas lay on his bed sulking for a few minutes before Gabe barged in accusing Cas of stealing his favorite shirt. Anna and Gabe 's college started tomorrow so both of them were pretty nervous. Well as nervous as those two could get anyways. Anna had woken Cas up at 6 o' clock with a high pitched scream. Had probably found a spider somewhere in her never cleaned wardrobe.

Gabe went away ten minutes later after an "extensive search" of Cas' room. Cas scowled after him but said nothing. He wasn't going to make his day worse by taking his anger and regret out on the one person who was probably looking for reasons to annoy him.

By the time it was time for Aunt Amara and her family to arrive at the Novak residence, Castiel had thought of 101 reasons why Dean must be hating him right now, and that he hadn't even wanted to meet or talk to him in the first place, and in all Cas' mood was pretty dark. When the bell rang to announce their arrival, Cas might as well have dyed his hair black, put dark eyeliner, and worn black clothes, and be listening to My Chemical Romance. That's how he felt anyways. But when his father called out to him to come downstairs, he shoved his emo-ness aside, put on a smile, and went downstairs.

"Aunt Amara. Uncle Daniel. Hello Annie." Cas greeted with a forced smile as he saw them. Uncle Daniel was alright, but if he was completely honest, he hated aunt Amara. She was not so bad nowadays, but go back a few years and she was a real bitch. He had heard that when he was a baby, his dad and aunt Amara had a falling out and hadn't talked with each other for years. It was only a few years ago that they got back together and resolved all their issues. Well almost all. She and her family only visit maybe a couple times a year even though they lived in the same state, and same goes for the Novak family. At least they weren't trying to kill each other, or get each other arrested for god knows what (Cas only knows this from what Gabe and Anna had told him, but he couldn't exaclty believe everything they say).

"Hello Castiel." Daniel smiled and shook his hand. Amara just nodded at him. Gabe and Anna were nowhere to be seen, but Cas' parents didn't bother calling them since they weren't going to come anyways. Especially not when they were so "busy". Amara and Daniel's 6 year old daughter Annie was playing around with some doll in the living room.

As they all sat in the living room and made small talk, Cas felt his mind wandering back to Dean. Now that he wasn't alone with his dangerous thoughts anymore, Cas found his way to more positive thoughts. Maybe Dean  _had_ wanted to meet Cas. Maybe he was even a bit interested? Before Cas could over think himself out of it again, he pulled out his phone and sent a "Hello Dean" to him. Cas almost closed his eyes and prayed that he would reply.

After a few minutes passed and no reply came, Cas turned his phone off and put it back in his pocket, a little embarrassed and disappointed. As soon as he put it away, it vibrated. Cas almost jumped out of his seat in his excitement, but he refrained and pulled his phone back out. It vibrated again.

But before he could check the message, Daniel asked him," How's your school going Castiel?"

"Its going well thank you uncle Daniel." Cas found the simple question very annoying, and hoped that he would be left alone from then on. But no luck.

"That's good. Make any new friends?"

Cas wanted to scowl. First of all, he wanted to check what Dean had replied. And second of all, it wasn't his first day in a new school that he might have wanted to ask i _f he made any new friends._

But he merely smiled and replied,"Yes I did."

His mother perked up. "You did? Why didn't you tell us about them before?" 

 _Its not like you asked. Or cared._ Castiel wanted to snap, but he knew he was being unreasonable. So instead he just shrugged and made up an excuse that it never came up. Before they could ask anymore questions, Cas excused himself and said that he was going to the washroom. Before he was completely out of earshot, he heard Amara say how ill-mannered he was, leaving like that before finishing the conversation, but Cas paid no heed. This wasn't the first time Amara had spoken something like that about him. It was just in her nature.

His phone still in his hand, he locked the washroom door behind him and sat on the toilet lid, quickly opening Dean's text message.

_Hey Cas._

_This is a pleasant surprise. I thought ur relatives were comin over?_

Cas grinned despite himself.

**They are here right now. I got bored, so I thought I should text you.**

The next text he got was quick. It made him wonder if Dean was waiting, staring at his screen for Cas to reply, just like he had, and his stomach fluttered.

_Are u saying u were thinking abt me Cas? ;)_

Cas' heart started beating faster, thumping loudly in his chest. Did he know? Oh god what of he knew? So did he hate him now? Did he - but before he could think any further, his phone vibrated again and another text from Dean came.

_Ignore the last msg. I was just messing with you._

Relief spread over Cas, but there was a hint of disappointment there too.

**Ok np Dean.**

 

**I am hiding in the bathroom rn to escape my relatives.**

Cas didn't know what compelled him to send that message, but he didn't want things to get too awkward, and their conversation to end.

  _Wow you really miss me don't you xD_

Cas was blushing furiously, more from embarrassment than anything else. Maybe this had not been such a good idea after all. Dammit Dean! Why did he have to make things so difficult!

**What? No! Its not like that**

_Relax Cas. I m just joking. Sorry if I made u uncomfortable._

**It's ok Dean. I was not uncomfortable.**

Cas lied. Kind of.

_Good._

Came the short reply. 

_So have you finished your biology homework?_

Cas hit his head with the flat of his palm. He had completely forgotten about that. He had started working on it on Friday, but it was too complicated. He had been in no mood to do it. Now he had only a few hours before he had to submit it.

**Shit I had completely forgotten about it. Thanks for reminding me.**

_Haha sure._

 

_Tell me if you need any help. I know it was a bit complex, but my lil bro won't take any of it. Had to finish it the first thing on Friday. Is2g sometimes it's like he's the older brother._

Cas smiled. He could practically hear the fondness in Dean's voice, which he always got when he was talking about his Sammy. 

**Your brother is a very sensible person. At least someone cares about you finishing your homework.**

_Wow Cas. Thanx for having so much confidence in me._

**I am just saying that without your brother you won't ever do you homework**

_Yeah yeah whatever._

Cas grinned widely. There was a knock on the bathroom door.

"Castiel what are you doing in there. Come on everyone is waiting for you. Your aunt and uncle have to leave soon." And with one last knock, without waiting for a reply, his mother walked away.

Cas sighed.

**Sorry Dean but I have to go. I'll talk to you later.**

_Ok bye Cas_


	8. Chapter 8

 The next morning Dean was up at 5:30 am. He just couldn't sleep. This was it. He was going to do it. He stared at himself in the mirror. He had taken a half an hour long shower, which was 20 minutes more than how long he usually took, and his skin was almost red from all that unnecessary scrubbing. He was wearing blue jeans, a plain grey shirt and a flannel jacket over it. He considered wearing his leather jacket but opted against it. It was too hot anyways. Or maybe that was just his nerves talking. 

7:30 found Dean downstairs applying butter over a half burnt toast. As Sam came out of his room, yawning, Dean handed him a glass of orange juice and ordered him to drink. Sam eyed him out of the corner of his eyes, seeing right through him, knowing exactly what was going on inside his head, but, much to Dean's relief, not saying anything about it.

15 minutes later Sam and Dean were sitting in Dean's Impala, on their way to school. Dean was barely paying attention to the road, his mind completely diverted.

Dean knew he wouldn't see Castiel before the lunch break. He had already told Charlie that he was going to do it today, and had basically rushed to his house to form a detailed plan about what he was going to do. Dean was thinking that maybe after the previous day, it wouldn't be that hard. I mean Cas had texted him.  _He said he only did that because he was bored._ But Dean shut that pessimist part of his brain away and concentrated on the task that laid ahead him.

Charlie and he had planned it all out. It wasn't very complicated. Just 5 minuted before the lunch break ended, Charlie and his other friends were going to excuse themselves and leave Dean and Cas alone. Then Dean was  _very casually_ going to ask him if he would like to go out for dinner with him. And then he would say yes and they'd hold hands and kiss, soft and slow.

...yeah probably not the last part. He'd just have see.

As he passed Charlie in the hallway, she gave him a death glare, as if to say  _You back out of this and you are dead._ Dean gulped, thankful that she was in way too much hurry to stop to say anything. Damn that girl could be scary when she wanted to be.

Skip the lectures, come the lunch break. Dean sat nervously in his seat, fidgeting. He hadn't even bothered to bring any food because he was too nervous to eat. Which was a first. Charlie was giving him an encouraging smile, and Ash, Benny, and Crowley were giving him smirks. Meg was nowhere to be seen.

Dean could have sworn that his heart stopped beating for half a second when Cas plopped down on his usual seat besides Dean. But then it sped up so fast it was hard to tell. Dean looked at Charlie with pleading eyes.  _Please don't make me do this today._ But all he got back was ruthless determination.

"Hello Dean." Cas looked at him and smiled. Then he turned towards the others and nodded in greeting. Dean almost squeaked back a 'hi'.

Cas frowned at him in concern. "Dean are you ok?"

"I am fine Cas." Dean gave him a watery smile. Dean saw Charlie shake her head at Benny out of the corner of his eyes.

After about 5 minutes, Cas said, again concerned,"You are not eating anything Dean."

"Wha- oh yeah I'm not very hungry today." Dean smiled weakly.

Cas frowned. "Are you sure you are-"

"Ok Castiel, stop worrying about your boyfriend and let us eat our food without wanting to throw up because of all the mushy mush." Crowley snapped, but not unkindly. Cas narrowed his eyes but didn't say anything else.

Neither Cas nor Dean said anything for the rest of the break, Cas picking at his food silently, and Dean only half listening to the conversation going on around him. About 10 minutes to go before the break ended, Cas stood up.

"Um excuse me. Sorry but I'll have to leave a bit early today. I had wanted to ask my calculus teacher something."

"What but why-"

"Can't you ask him later-"

Charlie and Ash burst out into protests, while Benny did not say anything and Crowley looked completely indifferent. Cas looked at them suspiciously.

"Uh I have a quiz later today and don't have any free period before them so I thought I should clear my doubts now. Why what's wrong?"

No one said anything. Charlie looked downright disappointed and didn't even try to hide it. Dean didn't know if he himself was disappointed or relieved. Maybe both.

"Er no its ok Cas. See you later."

"Yeah ok." And then with one last glance around the table, Cas left.

As soon as he was out of ear shot, Charlie sprang up and pointed an accusatory finger at Dean. "It is all your fault Winchester!"

"What did I do!?" Dean asked a little defensively.

"You scared him! You were acting all weird and not talking or _eating._ He must have thought something was going on." She scowled.

"Charlie relax. I'll try to ask him in the next period. It's biology. Or if that doesn't work out I'll-" Dean sighed,"I'll wait for him after school and ask him. Happy?"

"You better do that, or I'll have your head on a platter!" She growled angrily and stormed away with her tray.

Benny whistled. "Wow. I don't think I have seen her this angry since I broke her antique figurine of Princess Leia."

"Tell me about it." Ash shook his head. "If you value your life, you better do this Winchester."

* * *

 

Dean was already sitting on their table when Cas entered, which was surprising as Dean was never early. As far as he knew. Cas couldn't help smiling when Dean grinned widely- eventhough there seemed a nervous edge to it- on seeing him.

"Hello Dean." Cas said as he sat down in his usual seat. 

"Hey! You got your doubt solved ok?" 

"Yeah they were solved thanks." Cas actually hadn't been lying about the doubts. Ok so maybe the awkward atmosphere at the cafeteria table didn't exactly make him wait any longer, but he had gone to the teacher and got it solved.

All the students in the class quietened as the teacher entered. Cas sat up in his seat. Over the past few days it had gotten easier, if only a little, to concentrate while in the same room as Dean. 

"Ok class. Today I will be assigning each of you a topic on which you will have to work on with your partners. This assignment will take 30% of your grades so I suggest you put a lot of time and work into it. Now Carolyn, you and Sherin will be working on..." And with that Mr. Greenwood started listing the topics of their assignment.

Cas' heart was thumping in his chest, because Dean and he were going to do their first assignment together. They'd have to meet after school and discuss things and talk to each other more than they had ever talked and-

"Castiel." He was snapped out of his thoughts when Mr. Greenwood took his name. "You and Dean will do your research on Apoptosis. Sean and..." As the teacher trailed off, Cas turned his attention towards Dean and raised his eyebrows. Dean shrugged. "Could have been worse."

They got that class to work on their topics. Cas jolted down everything he and Dean knew about Apoptosis, which was, unsurprisingly, not much. So now Cas sat there looking at his notes, as if he was hoping they would make his brain sprout more information, while Dean stared at him with an amused look on his face.

"I believe we have done all that we could right now." Dean said casually, but Cas could hear the amusement in his voice.

"I know." He said dejectedly. "I just want to get good grades this time."

"Don't worry, we will. We have lots of time and we'll work hard. Hell, I'll even contribute if that makes you feel any better." Dean smiled at him softly, his tone joking but his eyes sincere. It hit Cas hard that Dean cared enough about him to try to make him feel better about this.

Cas smiled. "Thank you Dean."

"So how do you wanna do this?" Dean asked. "Should we meet today and start working on it or...?"

Cas paused for a second and thought. He nodded. "Yes today is fine. We could meet at my place." Dean nodded in agreement. Cas tore a paper from his notebook and wrote his address down.

Dean took the note and seemed to be contemplating something. After a few seconds, he seemed to have come to a decision and nodded slightly to himself. When he looked up and saw that Castiel was looking at him, his ears turned a light shade of pink, barely noticeable. The bell rang then and the students started getting up.

"So I'll see you at around 4?" Dean asked as he grabbed his backpack and slung it around his shoulders. Cas nodded. "Ok Dean."

* * *

Charlie was going to kill him! He hadn't asked Cas out. But he was going to go to his house later anyways ( _he was going to Castiel Novak 's house!)_ so maybe he'd ask him then. Holy crap Dean seriously did not want to see his reaction. What if Cas hated him and didn't want to ever see him again? But maybe he'd understand and just say he didn't see Dean that way and they'd continue being friends as if nothing had happened.  _Or he'd be feeling the same way as I do and he'd say yes._ Right. Or that.

* * *

Cas reached home at exactly 3:14 pm. The house was eerily quiet. Gabe and Anna were at college, his father at work, and his mother, from the note stuck on the fridge, was out getting some things at the grocery store. He had texted his mother earlier that Dean would be coming over to do the assignment, and his mother had insisted that he stayed over for dinner. Cas found this surprising since she never seemed to care about his personal life.

 _Probably wanted to get to know about my friends so she could act like she knew me._ Cas thought bitterly. Castiel tried not to think those negative thoughts about his family, but sometimes he just felt like they didn't understand him, or even  _try_ to understand him. It made him hate his family, eventhough deep down he knew that no matter what he would never truly hate them. Not even Gabe or Anna.

Cas' stomach suddenly growled with hunger. He wandered around in the kitchen, looking for something to eat. There was some leftover pie from last night's dessert, which Cas took out for himself.

As he took a bite, his mind wandered back to Dean. Pie was his favorite food. He literally worshipped his pie, even the shitty cafeteria one. Cas smiled as he remembered the way he had kept on rambling about pie and how to make it and how adding just the right amount of ingredients would make it pure heaven!

Cas suddenly felt very guilty for eating the pie. He should have kept it for Dean. He would have liked that. But it was no use now. Half of the pie was already finished, and he couldn't give Dean his half eaten food, even though he had no doubt that Dean would still eat it without batting an eye.

Cas turned on his laptop, thinking that he should probably do some research. After about 30 minutes into it, the door bell rang. Cas' heart pumped in his chest. Dean was here. Suddenly he was very nervous about having him in his house. He hadn't even considered that  _Dean was going to be in his house_. He gave his room a once over. As usual, it was very clean, but it didn't make him any less nervous. 

He straightened his tee shirt, and brushed some non existent dust from his jeans, and got up to open the door.

The first thing Cas noticed was that Dean had changed his shirt. A black AC/DC band tee replaced his simple grey one he wore earlier at school. He was also not wearing his flannel jacket over it. For the first time Cas could appreciate how fit Dean really was. His well toned muscles had usually been hidden under some jacket or extra pairs of unnecessary clothing. There was no other way to put it, Dean looked  _hot_.

Cas blushed slightly at his thoughts and turned his eyes towards Dean's face. He was wearing a shit eating grin on his face.

"Like what you see?" He winked at Cas. Cas could feel heat forming under his cheeks and he knew he probably looked red as a tomato. Dean coughed softly and smiled uncertainly.

"Can I come in?"

"Er yes of course, please come in Dean." Cas swung the door wider and stepped aside to let Dean in. Dean took a confident step inside and smiled at Cas.

"You have got a nice house." 

Cas smiled. "Thank you Dean. Do you need anything to drink?"

"I'm fine thanks Cas."

Cas nodded. "Ok. My room is this way."

* * *

 

They worked on their assignment for about an hour before Dean called for a time out.

"Come on Cas we have been working on this goddamn project for hours. We deserve a break." Dean complained.

Cas frowned. "It has been barely an hour Dean."

"Yeah but it  _felt_ like hours. For my mentality's sake, Cas. Only 20 minutes. Then we can get back to this stupid assignment." Dean argued, almost whining.

Cas chuckled. "Fine. But only 20 minutes, and then we get right back to it." Dean grinned triumphantly. "Awesome!"

Sitting there with Cas for an hour straight had been very distracting for Dean, to say the least. How was  _anyone_ supposed to be able to concentrate when Cas would be shifting every other minute, and pulling his eyebrows close together in that adorable frown of his, and chewing the back of his pencil with his pink, full, chapped lips!?

Dean got up from the hard chair and stretched briefly. He settled down on the bed, making himself comfortable. For the first time since entering it, Dean took a proper look around the room. The only pieces of furniture were a study table, two chairs (one of which Cas had brought from outside when Dean arrived), a wardrobe, a small book shelves with several books, a queen sized bed, and a side table. Everything one would need, and nothing they wouldn't.

The wallpaper covering the walls was a dull white colour. Cas hadn't really decorated his room much. The only items of personal touch were the books and a framed picture of Cas and his family sitting there on the side table. A few textbooks lay there sprawled on the study table, which were the only signs of misplacement. The blue bedsheets were neatly made (that is, until Dean decided to sit on it) and the entire room was unnaturally clean, complete opposite to Dean's room. His room was a disaster.

Finally, Dean looked back at Cas, to find him observing him carefully. Both of them looked away with a blush. 

"I have some chips if you are hungry." Cas said nonchalantly after a moment.

"Yeah sure." Cas got up and went outside.

 _Now's the time. Ask him!_ The thought itself made him nervous all over again. He took a deep breath and told himself to pull it back together.  _You are Dean freakin Winchester and there's nothing you can't do!_

Cas walked back in with a huge bowl of chips and two cans of coke and kept them on the study table. Dean stood up from the bed and sat down on his chair.

After some nervous fidgeting, Dean just thought  _screw it!_

"So um Cas. I wanted to ask you a question." 

Cas frowned. That cute frown of his had Dean's stomach in a twist. "What is Dean?"

"Um I was wondering if you, er, if you would like to have dinner." Dean stammered out. He looked expectantly at Cas, holding his breath.

Cas frowned again. "You mean like with Charlie and Benny and all others?"

Dean took a deep breath. "Uh, no. Just... I was hoping just you and me." Dean didn't look at Cas, knowing that he would find rejection. Maybe anger and hatred too.

But when Cas spoke again, he just seemed surprised, and maybe a bit confused. Dean heard him suck air in and say, "You mean like a date?"

"It's totally fine if you don't! I was just... wondering." Dean said quickly, feeling disappointed. Cas didn't say anything. Finally, not able to take the silence, Dean looked back at Cas. He watched in miracle as the surprised look on Cas' face turned into what could only be described as pure happiness. Dean blinked his eyes as Cas grinned widely.

"Yeah I'd like that." Dean widened his eyes.  _Really?_

"Really!?" Dean asked, immediately feeling stupid.

Cas narrowed his eyebrows, some uncertainty spreading over his face. "Yeah. I um- you... if you-"

"Oh no no I didn't mean it like that! I was just surprised that you said yes." Dean said quickly, and then suddenly grinned brightly. Cas grinned back.

"Why would you be surprised that I said yes. You are most certainly the hottest guy I've ever met." As soon as the words left him, Cas' eyes widened and a deep red blush spread over his face. 

A wide, mischievous smirked found its way towards Dean's face. And he was back! He put his elbow on the table and leaned towards Cas.

"You think I'm hot?" Dean's eyes twinkled and he winked. Cas blushed again.

"Yeah. Yeah I think you're hot. Have thought so since the first time I saw you. And you are also a very nice person. At least from what I've seen so far." Cas admitted, reddening even more. Dean's smile never left his face, although affection replaced mischief. Dean stared at Cas' eyes. God they were so blue. Bluer than the sky. And the shade was so... natural and beautiful. Just like Cas.

Something clanged outside, and snapped both the boys out of their daze. Cas coughed awkwardly, but Dean only looked back at Cas and smiled.

"If it makes you feel any better, I find you very hot too. But you are also very cute and... beautiful." Dean said softly. He was slowly leaning towards Cas, and he didn't realize it then, but Cas was doing the same. "And you are smart and intelligent and a complete nerd. And you get all flustered when you are nervous or embarrassed, and you-" Dean was cut off from his babble by a set of lips connecting to his.

Dean froze for half a second, sort of surprised and completely terrified! Because  _Castiel fucking Novak was kissing him!_ He should probably kiss him back. And so that's what he did. Dean kissed Cas back with all the passion, their lips moving together softly and deeply, and it was just  _so good!_ Dean had pictured this happening so many times, but it was nothing compared to the real feeling of Cas' lips on him. They were so smooth and soft, and  _oh god_ he tasted distinctly of pie! And his smell was making Dean crazy! Cas smelled of sweat, but also of rain and wet mud, and something else Dean couldn't make out. That smell belonged only to Cas.

Dean titled their head a little more so that their lips fitted better and their noses were squished against their cheeks. Dean put his arms around Cas, not wanting for them to move too fast, but also wanting to feel Cas' warm body. Cas shuddered against him and deepened their kiss. Dean felt a hand come against his neck, and he sighed contentedly, and both of them pulled away together, breathing hard, resting their heads against each other's, and not pulling his respective hands away.

After a long moment, Dean opened his eyes, not even realizing when he had closed them, and looked at Cas. His eyes were closed too, and he was smiling. Dean realized that he was also smiling, so much in fact that his jaw was almost hurting him. But he didn't care. He couldn't stop even if he wanted to.

Cas opened his eyes. His eyes were dilated, and his lips were plush and sticky from the kiss. Dean grinned when he saw them, and Cas grinned back. They stayed like that for several minutes, close to each other, foreheads touching, Dean's arms around Cas and Cas' hand around Dean's neck, breathing heavily against each other's face.

They finally pulled away from each other. Cas was looking at him with such adoration that it made butterflies flutter in his stomach. And it made Dean eerily happy. So happy he wanted kiss Cas again. But Cas had other plans.

"We should probably get back to our assignment." 

Dean blinked. "You are kidding." After _that_ kiss? Cas wanted to study?

Cas shrugged. "What? We still have to finish it."

Dean pulled his lip out. "We don't have to finish it  _today._ " 

"But we should try to finish it as soon as possible. So we have more time for editing and making the final copy." 

Dean rolled his eyes, but not meanly. "God you are such a dork. Fine we'll get back to the assignment, but-" Dean checked his wrist watch,"- we still have 8 minutes of break time." Dean smiled sweetly, giving him the puppy dog eyes, which he knew would never fail because he had learned them from the best, his brother.

Cas huffed out a laugh and shook his head in amusement. "Fine. Whatever. We'll start 8 minutes later."

Dean gave him a shit eating grin, and Cas looked at him suspiciously. "Oh I wonder how we could spend these 8 minutes." Dean said, scooting forwards in his chair. Cas laughed again, this time a bit nervously. "Well 7 minutes now."

Dean completely invaded Cas' personal space (again), and pulled Cas into another kiss, this one rougher than the first, both of them more comfortable and a little more familiar with one another

Cas pulled out for a second to smile and say,"Yeah we could do this too." 

 

**tbc...**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to add a warning that there is going to be some angst in the later chapters. Not necessarily the next one, but maybe the ones after that.  
> Also I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to read, give kudos, and comment. It means the world to me and keeps me motivated!  
> All criticism is welcome so if you don't like anything about this pls tell me :)


	9. Chapter 9

 

Dinner went in a sort of a haze for Castiel, because he still couldn't believe that he kissed  _Dean fucking Winchester._ They had worked on their project for a bit, exchanging long glances, 'accidental' touches, and soft kisses, before his mother had called them for dinner.

Cas had not told his family about his date with Dean for obvious reasons, i.e., their homophobia. Dinner was quiet and a little awkward, Dean or Cas talking only when directly addressed. Gabe and Anna had been unusually silent, just looking at Cas and Dean suspiciously, looking like they were contemplating something. But Cas had just ignored them for the most part of the meal.

Dean had left soon after, giving Cas a small peck on his lips when no one was looking. Cas was still smiling ridiculously 15 minutes after Dean had left, unable to wipe the after effects of his visit, not even caring if he was too obvious about it.

That's when the door to his room flew open and his siblings barged in. Cas jumped from where he was laying on his bed, and stifled a yelp at the intrusion, glaring at them when the initial shock subsided. 

"What are you doing here?" Cas asked putting as much venom in his words as possible. 

"Aw come on Cassy, we can't even come talk to our little brother?" Gabe said, pretending he was hurt. Cas just scowled disbelieving at him. But they just ignored him and plopped down on either side of him, trapping him effectively so he was left with no east escape.

Gabe and Anna exchanged a look and then gave an identical smirk. They were up to something. Fear crept up Cas' spine because he didn't think was going to like this.

"So..." Anna finally drawled out. "That Dean guy was cute."

Cas blinked. What did Dean have to do with anything? "What are you trying to imply?" He said coldly, trying not to let any of his fear or confusion show on his face or his voice.

"Not implying anything bro, just making an observation." Anna said with a knowing wink. Cas frowned. Could it be possible that they knew?

"Okay..."

"Oh come on don't be all innocent! We could see the way you were looking at him today. And you have been on cloud nine since school started, and that's weird even for a school loving geek like you!" Gabe said, almost jumping up and down on the bed.

Cas scowled at him, but couldn't hide his blush. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Gabe just gave him a bitch face. "You know Cassy, even for you that's kinda lame."

Anna nodded enthusiastically. "We had almost given up on you." She said. Cas frowned.

"Yeah. We thought you would die a virgin. Or worse, take up after our dear parents and do the do only after marriage." Gabe looked horrified at the idea. Anna seemed to concur.

"Look I don't know what you are up to, but nothing is going on between Dean and I." Cas said, but he couldn't meet either of their eyes and he knew his ear tips were definitely red.

Gabe scoffed and looked at Anna incredulously. "He thinks we are blind."

"Or just stupid." Anna added equally incredulous.

"Or both." Gabe nodded.

"The amount of eye sex you two were having, god I wanted to throw a condom at you!" Anna said rolling her eyes, and Cas blushed harder.

"Ah yes that's another thing baby bro! Always use-"

"Ok wait wait!" Cas sure as hell didn't want to be embarrassed any further by his brother giving him advice on  _sex._ "So you are okay with me being gay?" He said bitting his lips nervously. He knew Anna and Gabe were rebellious and they did nothing to show that they were against homosexuality, but then they never did anything to show that they were  _not._  

Gabe scoffed. "Castiel we have known you were gay the moment you hit puberty!"

Cas eyed him wearily. "Gabe you cannot exactly pinpoint the exact moment I hit puberty. And how the hell did _you_ know!? I only found out like a week ago!"

Anna and Gabe laughed. "You are kidding! Well then you should just have asked us." Anna said with a wink. Cas rolled his eyes. 

"And don't get too in over your head about being gay ok? We both are queer." Anna said gesturing towards her and Gabe. Cas blinked in surprise. They both were...

Gabe huffed. "Well yeah. Everyone gets to have this hot piece of ass. I mean why should they be punished for their gender." Gabe winked dirtily. 

Anna scrunched up her nose in disgust. "Ew Gabe." Gabe just ignored her.

"And you sister? She'll literally jump anyone." He laughed.

Anna rolled her eyes when Cas looked at both of them with his eyes wide. "I dont- what?" He stuttered.

"So are you and Dean dating?" She asked excitedly.

Cas eyed her suspiciously. "Why do you even care?"

Anna pressed her hand over her heart and faked hurt. "I care about my baby brother. I just want to make sure you don't get hurt."

Cas rolled his eyes. Gabe rolled his hand impatiently. "So? Dating or will we have to hook you up?"

Cas sighed in defeat. "Dean asked me out today. We are going on a date tomorrow."

Hearing this, Anna cheered and Gabe gave cat calls, thumping Cas on the back. Gabe brushed off a fake tear from his cheek and hugged Cas, much to his surprise.

"Look at our baby bro, going out on dates and all grown up. Before we know, he'll be drinking beer and partying and having sex with strangers. I am so proud of you Cassy."

Cas scoffed as Gabe finally let him go and rolled his eyes. "I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen Gabe."

"We'll see." Gabe said smirking mischievously. "Well you're going to tell us everything. In detail. And then we are going to decide if Dean-o needs a kicking in the ass." They started to get up. Cas heaved a sigh of relief, because finally, whatever this was, was over. But Cas was still grateful that they had excepted him. It was like some of the burden from his shoulders had been lifted. And for the first time, Cas felt something akin to love for his siblings.

Just as Gabe was closing the door, he stopped and called out to Cas, "bring us some of that chocolate mom brought earlier to our room will ya Cas?"

Cas scowled. "I'm not your manservant Gabe." 

"Sure you are." Gabe closed the door, and Cas could hear muffled snickering. 

Yeah, nothing had changed between them.

* * *

The next day, after lunch (where Cas had been surrounded by Dean's friends and they had all congratulated him and cheered that he and Dean were finally going out on a date) Dean stopped him and pulled him aside. 

"So about that date..." He said nervously. "I was thinking that we could, um, go grab a burger or something, and then go watch a movie. Keep it simple and classic."

Cas smiled. "Ok that's sounds great Dean."

"Awesome! I know a theatre where they are playing Star Wars. You like Star Wars right? We could watch that." Dean was now grinning widely.

"I've never seen Star Wars so I don't know if I like it or not."

Dean stared at him like he couldn't believe his ears. "You've never seen Star Was? But it's a classic! I thought you were a nerd." A pointed an accusing finger at Cas.

Cas shrugged sheepishly. "I never got around to seeing it."

Dean shook his head in bewilderment. "Well that does it then. We are watching Star Wars." Cas grinned and nodded. Dean hesitated for a moment, but then pressed a chaste kiss on Cas' mouth, which Cas returned almost immediately.

"I'll pick you up at 7 then?" Dean asked as they parted. 

"Sounds good." Cas smiled.

"Ok. Bye Cas! See you later." He said as bell rang, and he had to rush to his class.

"Good bye Dean." Cas called out to him, smiling like a manic. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the short chapter, but my exams are going to start soon so I won't be able to post for a while. I hope this will suffice until then :)


	10. Chapter 10

Castiel frantically threw one piece of clothing after another from his wardrobe. He didn't have any good clothes _ugh!_ He stared at the now empty wardrobe and the pile of clothes on his bed, some scattered around the floor.

"Jesus Christ what happened in here!?" Cas turned around and saw Anna staring at him in shock and amusement.  He looked at his sister pleadingly.

"I can't find any clothes to wear for my date tonight." He practically whined.

Anna laughed heartily. "You are kidding me. This is such a cliche. Ok fine I'll help you, but I'm never letting you live this down." Her eyes held amusement and a bit of mischief, enough to make Cas a bit scared, but not caring because he had a bigger problem right now.

Anna eyed the pile on bed with her nose wrinkled. She picked a plain blue button down and shook her head. She went through the clothes with little sounds of disapproval, and Cas' heart fell. What was he going to wear?

Finally, Anna picked a blue Tshirt, her eyes lighting up. "This." She said confidently.

"No way. It is too tight. That's why I never wear it. The only reason I didn't give it away was because it was a gift." Cas shook his head firmly.

"Exactly little bro. It is tight." She winked. "And it matches your eyes perfectly. Winchester will be swooning over you in no time." Cas rolled his eyes but couldn't keep the light blush from his face.

"And here." Anna picked a gray button down shirt and handed it over. "Wear this over the tee. But keep the buttons open." Next, she picked a pair of dark blue jeans, also tight.

"What is it with you and tight clothes?" Cas rolled his eyes but took them, thankful for the help. "Thanks Anna. You are a life saver."

Anna smirked, her eyes twinkling. "You bet I am. Now go get dressed. I dont want to see you home before 11."

* * *

 The clock hit 7 and a knock was sounded on the door. Cas nervously got up from where he was sitting on the couch in the living room. He had told his parents that he was going to watch a movie with a couple of friends, and they hadn't asked any questions. They would freak out if they knew the truth. 

Cas opened the door, completely aware of his mother in the kitchen. Dean stood there grinning widely, if a bit nervously. And he looked...  _wow._ It was very rare for Dean to wear only a single layer of clothing, and today was one of those days. He was wearing a half sleeved black tee with some logo Cas didn't recognize. And ok, had his abs always been this big? He also wore skin tight jeans which really showed his bow legs. Cas was ashamed to say he was drooling. 

Cas finally looked at his face, and maybe it was the lightening but it looked like Dean's eyes had darkened. 

"Hey Cas." 

"Hello Dean." Cas said grinning. 

Dean leaned forwards to give him a kiss, but Cas quickly leaned back. Eventhough he wanted to kiss Dean really bad, his parents were in the house, his mother not 20 feet away. He didn't want to risk it. Dean frowned and gave him a confused and hurt look. 

"Uh my parents are in the house." Cas said quietly, going red. Dean looked even more confused.

"They wouldn't, er, approve of this." He elaborated, not looking at Dean.

"You mean they are homophobic." It was more of a statement than a question. There was just a hint of anger in his voice and Cas winced. He nodded his head, still looking anywhere but at Dean.

"Hey its ok." Cas felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up at Dean's eyes. They were sincere. "Its not your fault. My father is the same way." He scowled, but Cas knew it was not directed at him. "Come on, let's not ruin our evening because of this."

Cas nodded and smiled weakly. "Thank you Dean."

 

* * *

Dean sat tapping his fingers on the table. He had taken them to The Pit (it was a bar and grill not too far away from where he lived). The drive had passed in silence. Cas had been a little distracted, and Dean was a little angry because he didn't tolerate homophobia. He didn't tolerate it from his father and he sure as hell didn't want to tolerate it from Cas' parents. But he had to respect that Cas hadn't come out to them yet. It couldn't be easy; hell Dean  _knew_ it was not. Cas just needed time.

The date wasn't going as planned at all. Dean would have to do something to change that. 

"So Castiel." Cas looked up from staring at the menu. "What kind of name is that?" Dean gave him a charming grin, hoping it would take his mind off of his parents. 

Cas smiled. "It is the name of an angel. It actually means the angel of Thursday. My, uh, parents are very religious and named their children after angels. Gabriel, Anael, which is Anna's actual name, and me." His smile faltered a bit.  _Way to go Dean._

 "That's, uh, cool." Dean tried for a reassuring smile but it probably came out as a grimace. "So are you religious?"  _Just leave the topic, Winchester!_

"I used to. But I started to realize that my beliefs differed from my parents' and I just lost faith. I felt like seeing the world from the view point of the world made me very narrow minded. I needed a different, a wider perspective."

"So did you find a different perspective? Anything else to believe in?" 

Cas nodded. "I believe in people. And I believe in humanity. And I think I just formed a perspective of my own. I chose to believe what I think is right or wrong, and so far my sense of rightness has not served me wrong."

Dean smiled. "I like that kind of attitude. I wish I could be more like you."

Cas shook his head. "You should be your own person, Dean. Do not compare yourself to others. And to be honest I like you just the way you are." Cas grinned and Dean grinned back, a warm feeling glowing through his body.

Someone cleared their throat. "So can I get you boys something or do you just want to stare at each other?"

Cas and Dean both turned red at the statement. Dean glared at the speaker. "Hello Luci." He said mockingly, knowing that the other man did not like the shortened version of his name.

"Dean-o, I'd like to remind you for the hundredth time. It's Lucifer. I mean even your small brain can understand that much, right?" Lucifer glared coldly at him and Dean tried not to shiver under his scrutiny. To be fair, it was one hell of a glare.

Instead, Dean smirked smugly. "Ok fine Lu-ci-fer. Whatever you say. I'd like a soda and a double cheeseburger. Extra onions." Dean was still smirking.

Lucifer scowled but wrote the order down. He then turned to Cas and raised and eye brow. Cas looked half amused and half uncomfortable. He seemed startled to have the attention on him.

"Uh, oh, I'll have the same." He said hurriedly.

Lucifer walked away without another word, an icy gait to his walk. Dean let himself shuddered this time.

He turned to Cas sheepishly. "Sorry about that. I try not to get into a brawl with him, but the guy gets under my skin. But this place had got the best damn burgers in Chicago so we gotta deal with him."

Cas nodded understandingly. "Is his name really Lucifer?" His lip twirled up a little and Dean mentally grinned.

"Who the hell knows!? The guy's a fucking mystery. Rumers go that his father was a hardcore satanist and summoned the Devil himself to possess his new born 's body because apparently he was special and Satan could possess only his body to be anchored to the earth. But I don't know. They seem a  _little_ far-fetched." Dean winked.

Cas chuckled. "Yes maybe just a little."

Thankfully it seemed to have lightened the mood a little. They made small talk until their dinner arrived, and then they were too engrossed in eating to talk. Cas stopped in between to say that Dean was right about the burgers being the best in Chicago. From the noises he was making, Dean believed him. So did his dick, because  _fuck_ those are some pretty hardcore pornographic noises right there.

By the time they finished, it was time for their movie. They decided that since the cinema was barely three blocks away, they would walk. It was a pleasant day outside and Cas was walking really close to him which made it even better. They walked so that their hands brushed and after one block, Dean just thought  _fuck it_ and grabbed Cas' hand, feeling heat on his cheeks when Cas looked at him. But Cas squeezed Dean's hand and smiled at him and Dean was suddenly grinning like an idiot, but so was Cas so it was alright.

Cas insisted that he bought the popcorn and coke since Dean had bought the tickets. Dean argued that he had asked Cas out so he was  _supposed_ to buy all the stuff, but Cas wouldn't take any of it.

They were watching A New Hope. For some reason the cinema was reshowing all of the Star Wars movies for the next couple of weeks. But since Dean loved Star Wars and the price was half of that of any new movie  _and_ Cas had never seen Star Wars, Dean wasn't complaining. And if he was completely honest, watching it on the big screen was going to be  _awesome._

They made their way to the line of people waiting to get inside when Cas came back with a bucket of pop corn and two cokes. God he looked really hot today. He should dress like this more often.

"Did I tell you that you look really hot today?" Dean said with a shit eating grin. 

Cas grinned back shyly and said,"I don't think you did."

"Well you do. And I think you made the right choice with those jeans. Your ass looks great." Dean winked and Cas went red. God he was adorable.

"Thank you Dean. You don't look too bad yourself."

Dean leaned towards Cas and bumped his shoulder lightly. "Yeah?" He said with his eyes twinkling.

"Yes."

The movie started and Dean couldn't keep his eyes off of Cas' face. Star Wars was his favorite movie series and he wanted to see how someone -who was quite possibly his boyfriend- watching it for the first time would react. And Cas ' reactions were great! He gasped and smiled and huffed at all the right times and not once did he complain about the graphics. The only thing was that he was sceptical about the Force, which lead to a huge argument and a promise from Dean that Cas was going to watch all of the movies and he was going to respect them no matter what.

About halfway through, after all the popcorn had been finished, Cas suddenly sat up straight and stretched his arms.

"Bored already?" Dean said only half jokingly. He really wanted this date to go well.

Cas smiled softly and shook his head, and god, did Dean say that he was adorable? "Not at all. In fact I am really enjoying this evening. My arms are just stiff that's all."

A warm feeling spread in Dean's body and he grinned shyly. "That's good. Not that your arms are stiff. That you are enjoying this evening. Because I'm enjoying it too. Very much-"

Dean was cut from his rambling by a soft pair of lips and he melted into the kiss. Kissing Cas got better every time he did it and it was  _awesome!_ Cas' lips were gentle but insistent, like Cas had been wanting to do this for a very long time, eventhough they had kissed just that afternoon in school. The kiss got heated and Dean licked Cas' lips, his hands brushing the short hair at the back of his head, and when had Dean's hands gotten there? Just as Cas opened his mouth to let Dean in, someone coughed very loudly and pointedly from behind them. They pulled away, Dean glaring at the old couple sitting behind them, and Cas staring at the screen, red face visible even in the darkness. Dean grinned and kissed his cheek- if this kept on like this, Dean was going to turn into a chick!- and they darkened even more.

Castiel 's hand was resting on the hand rest so Dean went ahead and grabbed it, intertwining their fingers and holding tightly. He didn't look at Cas, but he knew he was smiling. A few minutes later, he felt a head rest on his shoulders and curly hair tickle his cheeks. Butterflies flew in his stomach and his ears might or might not have been red, but he felt so... happy. Dean didn't even care if Cas fell asleep, he wouldn't change a single thing about this evening, not if it meant this feeling would go away.

Dean leaned in and pressed a kiss on top of Cas' head. He heard a soft sigh escape his...boyfriend's mouth as he snuggled closer. Dean wanted this feeling to never end, to stay with him forever... for Cas to stay with him forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I am looking for a beta (who'd beta read the previous chapters as well as the later ones) so if anyone is interested, could you pls tell me? (I'm not sure if you can send messages in here, but either ways my instagram username is "jenmishjar")


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shit. I'm so sorry guys. I know it's been months since I last posted and I'm really very sorry. I'm not going to give any excuses, nor am I going to give you any promises, because I can't promise that I would update soon. And on top of that I give you _this_ chapter. Be warned: fluffy and angsty. I'll try not to completely abandon this. Sorry once again. I hope you like this.

It had been more or less a month since they got together and things couldn't be better for Dean and Castiel. It seemed like they were attached to their hips and it was impossible to separate them in their free time. They were unbearably cute, and utterly disgusting in the cafeteria. Inspite of their quick closeness, they had decided to take things slow. They'd be making out every chance they got but it was like a silent agreement between them that they wouldn't move it farther unless both of them were ready.

Charlie would still aww at them every time she saw them holding hands or making out, but things were getting pretty old for Crowley and Meg. Anytime Dean and Cas made "googly eyes" at each other, Crowley would roll his eyes and Meg would make gagging noises, and everyone else would laugh. But basically everything was perfect in Cas' life. School was good, his boyfriend was Dean Winchester, his parents were as oblivious to him as before, and for some reason his siblings were nicer to him than they've ever been. 

Maybe that's why Castiel couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to go wrong. He couldn't stop hearing Gabe's voice saying, "World should remain balanced. As should life." But life was too good to think about things like that. For example, Dean was just walking towards him with a wide lopsided grin plastered on his face and a twinkle in his eye that he got every time he saw Cas. Castiel 's heart fluttered, like it did every single time he saw Dean, and he didn't ever want to get used to feeling this way round him, because this was beautiful. Dean was beautiful.

"Hey!" Dean greeted, and gave Cas a quick peek on his lips. "I'm coming over at your place so we can study." Dean gave him a mischievous wink. Cas laughed and put his arm around Dean's waist as they walked out of their school building. "Well if that's all you had in mind..."

They stopped by Dean's Impala. Dean turned to face Cas and pulled him in for a deep kiss. Cas readily reciprocated and opened his mouth to invite him in. Dean took the invitation, and more, as he pulled Cas' shirt up and put his hands on his warm back and pulled him so that their chests were touching. Cas wrapped him hands around Dean's neck and closed his eyes, giving in to the warmth of Dean's body. 

They finally broke to take a breath, but didn't move away from each other. "Actually I had something else in mind." Dean breathed softly.

Cas chucked and pulled away completely, leaving Dean confused. "In that case, what the hell are you waiting for?"

* * *

They could barely contain themselves as they  _finally_ reached Cas' place. Before Cas could take out his keys to unlock the door, his mother opened it for them.

"Mother." Cas said, a little surprised. She still didn't know about Dean and him and he intended on keeping it that way. If she ever found out about her son being gay, she would freak out, or worse. Thankfully, Dean had been over enough for it to be suspicious.

"Hello Castiel. Dean. You could hear that monstrous thing from miles away." She said it as a joke but Cas could feel Dean tense. He still didn't like her very much, but he pretended to for Cas' sake. 

Before Dean would reply, Cas quickly said,"We were just going to study. If you need us, we'll be in my room." He ushered Dean inside and closed the door behind him.

"Good to see you Mrs. Novak." Dean said for curtsey 's sake and followed Cas upstairs.

"You should tell her." Dean sat on Cas' bed like he had done it a million times, which he had. Cas sighed as he sat besides him.

"Come on Dean. How many times have I told you that she won't take it too good. My parents are very religious-"

"Yeah, yeah, and very homophobic. I know. It's just that I wish we didn't have to keep this a secret."

"I know... but don't let this ruin our mood." Cas smiled and turned, putting his legs on either side of Dean's knees. Dean raised his eyebrows but grinned, homophobic parents completely forgotten. It wasn't always that Cas took control like this.

Cas leaned forwards and pressed a soft kiss on Dean's lips. Dean's arms created up on Cas' back and went up his shoulders, pulling him closer. Cas pressed another soft kiss, pulling away quickly again, and Dean grunted. His breathing had escalated and he was looking at Cas with hooded eyes. Cas put his hands on his hair, just the way Dean liked, and came closer to kiss him again. This time Dean moved too, surprising Cas a little, and smashed their lips with force. All the softness and patience was gone and the kiss became heated.

Dean was practically clawing at Cas' shoulders, and Cas was pulling at Dean's hairs, pulling soft groans out of him. Dean nipped at Cas' lips, pulling a groan out of him, and quickly soothed it with his tongue. They both pulled away for a fraction of a second to gasp, but went back in with twice the force. Cas opened his mouth and Dean's tongue found its way in, searching, exploring, as if they were kissing for the first time. Cas wanted more. He  _needed_ more. He pressed forwards, causing Dean to lose his balance and fall on the bed. Cas didn't lose a moment to go back to kissing him, his hands going under Dean's tshirt this time. This was the first time that they had gone this far, but neither of them stopped. They needed this. They needed each other. 

Cas' hand brushed against Dean's nipple, and Dean shuddered. This just instigated Cas to move his hands even faster, and within seconds they were both gasping with need. The kiss got even more heated, if it was even possible. Dean pulled up Cas' shirt. He needed it out of his way. Cas was a little reluctant at breaking their kiss, but he pulled away just long enough for Dean to remove his shirt, and immediately went back to kissing him. Cas shuddered as he felt Dean's cold hands on his body. He wanted this to go on forever. He felt like nothing could stop-

There was a loud clang just outside Cas' room. Cas' eyes widened and quickly got up, his heart beating hard, this time in fear. He slowly turned around, and was met with the sight of his mother; her eyes wide, hands frozen in the action of holding something, probably the tray of sandwiches that was now on the floor.  _Shit_. Cas thought.  _Shit shit shit shit._ He was dead. He was sure this was going to be his last day on earth. 

He looked at Dean, who seemed to be as surprised by the intrusion as Cas. He looked at Naomi, then at Cas, and back again at Naomi. He hadn't gotten up, and was still lying in the bed.

"Cas..."

"Dean, you should go." Cas said softly, the words breaking his heart even as he said them. He felt like he was betraying Dean. Like he was betraying his boyfriend. Dean's eyes widened even more, but he got up. He understood. He hated it, but he understood. He had gone through pretty much the same deal with his father the previous year.

Naomi seemed to finally have snap out of it and she looked at Cas' naked upper body in horror. Cas quickly pulled his shirt back on. He couldn't meet Dean's eyes as he passed him. Naomi turned to Dean, her eyes red with anger.

"You son of a bitch! You did this to Castiel! You turned my sweet angel! You are the devil!" She was screaming at him now. Dean just stared at her with empty eyes. 

"Dean... I'm sorry. Please just go." Cas whispered. Dean looked at him. Cas still couldn't look at him. He wasn't angry at Cas, but he had hoped that he would have at least stood up for him. No no, that would have been too much to ask for. He would talk to Cas later. They would work this out. Without a word, Dean walked out of Cas' room, with one last look at his boyfriend, who was hanging his head in shame. 

Dean felt angry, not at Cas, but at this world. Why should a person feel shame for doing something that made him happy and did not in any way even affect any one else? Why did people have to make homosexualty such a big deal? Why did  they have to make it so wrong? 

Once Dean was out of the house, Naomi turned her screaming towards her son. He called him and Dean queer and faggot and many other names that Cas didn't care to remember. She told him how God was going to punish him and that he was going to go to hell. She then went on to curse Dean. She finally bursted out in tears and told him that she did not expect this from him and that she was very disappointed. She said that she was going to talk to his father and they would think about a suitable punishment for his horrific actions. Cas didn't know how long this went on, but he knew that he was numb inside. He didn't say anything, nor did he even look at her. He knew being gay wasn't wrong, but he still couldn't shake the feeling of shame and guilt that welt up inside of him. He wanted to scream at his mother. He wanted to defend him and his boyfriend. He wanted her to see that there was nothing wrong with what he was doing. He wanted to cry. But nothing came out. No words, no tears. 

Finally, Naomi just slammed the door on his face and stomped out, leaving Cas standing where he was. He didn't know long he stood there. Gabe and Anna finally came bursting into his room. Anna told him how sorry she was and hugged him. Gabe expressed his anger over what Naomi had said. But still Cas couldn't move or say anything. Deep inside he knew it was all over. Dean couldn't possibly want him after all this. And there was no way that he would even be allowed to see Dean. His father would probably kill him once he found out, and what was worse was that Cas didn't care. Right now, he didn't care about anything.

"Cas say something." Anna was speaking. Cas was sitting on his bed and he didn't even know how that happened. Gabe was shaking his shoulders. Cas opened his mouth but nothing came out. He just shook his head.

Gabe sighed. Cas could see that he was actually worried. He wondered when that happened. "Come on Anna. We should probably leave him alone for a while."

Anna nodded, her eyes filled with concern. That was new too. They both left him, closing the door softly behind them. He could hear muttering fading away.

Hours later, he heard his father's car come into the driveway. Cas knew he was doomed. He means voice downstairs. Finally, his father's loud and angry voice called his name.

"Castiel! Come downstairs  _right now! "_ Castiel didn't want to go, but he knew that that would only make his father angrier, and why try to avert the inevitable? Cas walked down with growing dread in his stomach.

Naomi was standing there, her eyes wet and her hands on her hips, and Zachariah was standing besides her with barely contained anger.

"You are grounded for lifetime." His father said calmly with only a hint of anger in his voice. Castiel blinked. He did not expect this. He expected his father to react pretty much the same way his mother had. To shout and scream and belittle him.

"And you can't see this boy again. If I find out that you have been seeing him, or  _any_ other boy, you can pack your things and get out of my house because I won't tolerate this kind of behaviour under my roof. Do you understand?"

Cas had expected that much, but his heart still fell. He nodded, averting his eyes.

"Look at me!" Zachariah finally shouted. Cas jumped and quickly looked at his father. "Speak up, boy." Cas had never seen so much disgust and hatred directed towards him in his father's eyes.

"Yes sir. I understand."

"Good. You are only leaving this house for anything other than school, and don't even think about locking your bedroom door. If your cell phone has a password, I suggest you remove it, because it seems that you cannot be trusted."

It seemed like all the tears that Cas had held back or that had refused to pour down his eyes were finally welling up. 

"Y-yes." Cas managed to mutter before he practiacally ran upstairs and slammed the door to his room, crashing on his bed and finally letting all the tears out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had actually been waiting to write this part since I started this fic, because you know, angst. Finally it has been written and I am very satisfied, eventhough it wasnt exactly as i had planned for it to be. I will most probably continue because I wanted to write the next part too, but like I said, no promises.
> 
> One more thing, I know in the previous chapter (the one with Amara) I had made it look like Chuck was Cas' father, but well he is canonically bisexual so he wouldn't give Cas a hard time for being gay. So I has to make it as Zachariah. Sorry for the confusion and the mess that this fic is.


	12. Chapter 12

That night, Castiel fell asleep with wet eyes and red nose. He didn't want to go to school that day and face Dean and all of his friends. He didn't want to go downstairs and face his parents all by himself. He didn't want to get up. 

But he did. Because he knew that's what he was supposed to do. He was supposed to forget everything that happened yesterday, because that's what his family did, and keep moving like nothing had happened. Except a lot of things had happened and he knew no one was moving on from that.

Cas was surprised by the sight of Gabe and Anna sitting at the table, having breakfast. They never had breakfast with them. Gabe looked at Cas and nodded in understanding, and Cas felt emotions welt up towards his siblings. They were there to support him. His vision became blurry as his eyes filled with tears again, but he brushed them off.

His father was reading his newspaper as usual, and his mother was by the stove. She put a plate of scrambled eggs in front of him without a word. His father didn't ask him how he slept, like he always did. Cas had always thought that that ritual was ridiculous, but he wanted to cry when  it didn't happen. He knew he had completely lost his parents.

The atmosphere was tense. No one spoke. Not even Anna or Gabe broke the silence, because they knew it would only make the situation worse.

At school, it felt like everyone's judging eyes were on Cas. Every snicker and ever whisper felt like it was about him. Cas wanted to shy away from everyone and leave. When he saw Dean waiting for him at his locker, he froze. All he could do was look at Dean's worried expression as he kept waiting for him. Cas couldn't face him, not after what happened. He turned his back and went the other way. That day he skipped his Biology and History classes, and ate his lunch by the bleachers.

* * *

 

Cas had been avoiding Dean for a couple days now. Whenever he saw him coming his way, he would turn around, whenever Dean called his name, he acted like he hadn't heard and he kept walking, he hadn't been to the Biology or History class ever since, and he muted his calls and messages. Dean was clearly very worried, and Cas couldn't help but think that it was all his fault. Charlie had tried asking him what had happened. Dean had obviously not told her, and Cas appreciated it. He changed the topic, or just denied that anything had happened. But Charlie wasn't stupid, and Cas could see that she was very frustrated.

Things at home weren't any better. The only people he had talked to in 2 whole days were Gabe and Anna, and his parents wouldn't even allow that, as though "gayness was contagious". Cas didn't even try to talk to his mother and father. He was too afraid of what they would say, or worse, not say. He would just have to deal with this. But he didn't know how much longer he could take the silent treatment.

On Monday, Cas wasn't feeling too well. It had been almost a week since his parents found out and they still hadn't talked about it. Yesterday, Cas had finally found some courage and tried to explain to them how he felt.

_"Dad, I'm sor-"_

_"Don't ever call me that again. You are not my son."_

His mother hadn't even blinked, much less come to his defence. That night Cas had puked his stomach out.

This morning he hadn't eaten any breakfast. He had just rushed towards school without a glance towards his parents. Right now, being at school and having to avoid Dean all day felt better than having to stare at his parents' face for even 5 minutes. It was the first period and he stood over a sink in the bathroom, willing himself not to think about the past week and cry. Just as he was closing the tap, the door to the bathroom opened. Cas jumped. He hadn't expected anyone to come in since the first period was still going on. He turned to face the person who had just entered and froze.  _Shit._

"Dean," Cas said with surprise and guilt, his eyes wide open. Dean looked angry, like he had every right to be. Cas had been avoiding him for almost a week without any explanation. But he also looked concerned. Cas gulped and looked away. He did not deserve his concern.

"Yes, me. Surprised to see me? Or are you just disappointed? Considering that you have been avoiding me for the better part of the week." Every word seemed to bring out more anger from Dean. He took a step forwards, and Cas consecutively stepped back, more out of reflexes than fear.

"Dean I'm..." Cas sighed and rubbed his face, defeated. "What are you doing here, Dean?"

"I was looking for you! I figured you might be here or at the bleachers since you are obviously not in the class." Dean took two more angry steps towards Cas, but this time Cas didn't move. "Look Cas, I don't know what your parents did to you and what they told you to do, but if you were breaking up with me, I at least deserved an explanation." Dean sounded so angry and so hurt it broke his heart.

"No, it's not- I don't-" Cas didn't know what to say. He wasn't prepared for this. Cas took a deep breathe in, trying to control his trembling lips. He opened his mouth but no words came out. How could he explain to Dean why he couldn't be near him when he himself didn't understand half of it.

Dean took the last few steps and closed the distance between them. His face still held anger but his eyes had softened. He grabbed Cas' shoulders and Cas looked away, biting his lips to not cry.

"Cas, look at me." When Cas didn't do that, Dean shook him slightly and repeated himself. When Cas finally looked at Dean, all anger had left his face, and now only worry housed in his eyes. "Cas it's okay. I'm not angry at you because of what happened at your place. I'm just worried about you. You should have just talked to me Castiel." His voice was so soft, it finally broke him. Uncontrollable tears flowed down Cas' face and he just grabbed Dean. He held him so tight against him, his hands started to hurt, but he didn't leave him. He couldn't anymore. 

"I'm s-sorry Dean. I'm so sorry. I just didn't want to h-hurt you. And after what my m-mother said to you, I felt horrible. I felt so disgusted with myself for not standing up for you. I couldn't face you Dean." Dean embraced him just as hard, softly patting Cas' back, pressing his chin on the top of his head.

"They wont talk to me." Cas said between sobs. "I guess I thought that if I didn't see you anymore, we'd get back to what we were. I know it wasn't much, but they are still my family. I never should have done that."

"I know Cas. I understand. It will all be okay. Just let it all out." Cas sobbed at his words.

"I missed you so much Dean. I am so sorry." Dean's shirt was wet from Cas' tears and snot, but he didn't seem to care. He only seemed to care about Cas.

"It's okay Cas. I missed you too. You have no idea how much. We'll figure something out. I promise." Dean never stopped soothing his back, or pushed him away and Cas was really grateful for that.

"I don't deserve you," Cas said so softly that he wasn't sure Dean had heard him, but he had.

"Shh, don't talk like that." When Cas didn't say anything, Dean pulled away just enough to look at his face. Cas' eyes were all red and puffed, and his nose was running, his cheeks pink. 

"Cas I love you." 

At first the words didn't register with him, but when they did, Cas just kind of froze, his eyes wide open.

"Cas, please say something." Dean's voice had gone desperate. This was the first time he had said those words to anyone since his mother left them, and he hadn't expected the reaction he was getting right now.

Cas blinked and shook his head. "You love me?" His small voice sounded a little confused. "I don't understand. How can you love me after what I did to you?"

"You  _didn't do_ anything Cas! If there's anyone to blame, it's your ignorant parents. But they don't change the fact that I love you Castiel. I always have and I always will." Dean closed his eyes, not wanting to see what reaction he might get. He only wanted to feel the warmth of Cas' body and enjoying it while he had the chance.

Cas' reply came so soft Dean wasn't sure he heard it correct- "I love you too." Dean opened his eyes and stared at Cas. His eyes had gone warm, and although they still seemed a little pained, there was no doubt about it. Cas was smiling. "I love you too Dean Winchester." He said louder and with more confidence.

Dean felt unimaginable joy and relief, and he couldn't stop himself anymore. He needed Cas, and being away from him had just made the need grow stronger. Dean kissed Cas, holding him as tightly as he could so that he wouldn't leave him ever again. Cas kissed him back hungrily, like he had been starving for Dean, for his lips, for his warmth, for his kindness. Having Dean back made all of Cas' problems disappear.

They finally pulled apart, only to rest their foreheads together as they catched their breaths.

"You know, this doesn't mean that I have forgiven you for avoiding me." Dean and Cas caught each other's eyes and Cas looked away guiltily, not catching Dean's mischievous tone. He pulled away completely and nodded.

"I understand. I'll do anything to make up for I have done."

Dean raised his eyebrows. "Anything?" Dean pushed Cas against the wall, putting both his hands on either side of this head. This time, Cas caught him unsuccessfully trying to stop smiling, and he shoved him playfully. "You know what I mean."

Dean chuckled, not moving from his position. "Yes I know. But you still have to make up for it, so, you have to take me on a date."

Cas frowned. "Dean, we have been on hundreds of dates. And I would have gone out with you anyways."

"I know we have, but this time I wouldn't be the one planning it. I expect you to be completely romantic, ask me formally if I'd go with you, take me to a candle light dinner, because that is much needed, and pie is very important too. Don't forget pie. Then offer to pay the bill for both of us even though I wouldn't let you, and then at the end of the day, have a heated make out session with me."

Cas laughed. It felt so good to be able to talk with Dean again. "You've got yourself a deal Mr. Winchester."

"Uh uh that's not all. I also expect you to make up for the missed time by spending your every free second at school with me." Dean was smiling really widely at him, but somewhere in his eyes, Cas could see that he was still a little unsure and doubtful, and Cas hated having to be the reason for that doubt.

"You know I will." Cas smiled and said softly. Dean grinned in relief.

"I'm not done yet." Dean's tone had gone serious. Cas frowned at his grave expression. "I want you to- I want  _us_ to talk to your parents."

Cas widened his eyes and shook his head, his conversation with his father from last night coming back to him. "No Dean. We can't do that. They won't listen to us. And I'm afraid they'd kick out of the house before you could say 'gay'."

"Look, I'm not scared of them, and neither should you be. And if they truly love you, which I know they do, they'll find a way to accept who you are. We should at least try."

"No, you don't understand-"

"I won't do something that you don't want me to, but how long would you not talk to each other, ignoring your problems like this? I know it sounds a little hypocratic coming from me seeing that we in the Winchester family never talk things out, but trust me, sooner or later all the stuffed feeling come out and it's not fun. Just think about it okay?"

Cas sighed, not fully convinced, but he nodded. Before he could say anything else, Cas kissed Dean again, melting in those familiar lips. Dean kissed back, resting his head on Cas' shoulder after they pulled away.

"I love you Dean."

"I love you too Cas." 


End file.
